Heroes: Brave new world
by Sub Ink
Summary: Claire hunted, Peter becomes a politician, Molly Walker returns and many more Heroes in this story.
1. Welcome To The New World

**Disclaimer Alert **

The characters appearing originally in the Heroes series, web comics and novel do not belong to me. They belong to Tim Kring and the NBC

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**Author's note**

Hey guys, this is my first story so... Yeah. By the way I know Japanese isn't a real language. I would have done research but... their culture just confuses me. If you know what language they speak or more specifically what language Ando and Hiro speak to each other with, please let me know.

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**Heroes: Brave New World**

**Episode 1**

The two cars sped down the road past some bystanders. One was a big black Jeep and the other an old Chevy. The Chevy was struggling to pull away from the slick black Jeep. The two cars exchanged body paints making the Chevy momentarily lose control. The car stabilized, the Jeep was now running parallel to the Chevy. Inside Noah Bennett was perspiring from concentration.

_Noah and Claire Bennett - Chicago_

Claire Bennett pulled her father's gun from his waist and shot through the passenger window at the Jeep. The Chevy's window collapsed into multiple glass fragments. Claire saw in horror as the bullets simply bounced off the Jeep.

"It's bulletproof!" she exclaimed.

Noah responded by turning hard to the left. There was a loud bang followed by screeching tires. The Jeep got bumped into the path of a street light. It smashed through it and made a spectacular roll in the air and landed on its roof. The Chevy was not without its own problems as it swerved wildly and crashed into a metallic barrier. Noah stumbled out of the car to the ground. One lens of his glasses was cracked. He pulled himself up clutched beneath his khaki jacket were he felt pain. He withdrew his hand which was stained with blood. He wiped his hand on his shirt and called out to his daughter. Claire's face had blood stains with no wounds.

"Dad, are you okay?" she instinctively asked.

"Yes. Get yourself out of there."

Claire failed to move and noticed a metal pike going collectively through her chest and her seat. She grabbed the pike and tried to pull it out. Her grip on the pike slipped as the blood on her hands acted like oil slick. Claire heaved and moaned but the pike would not budge. The passenger door opened.

Claire was terrified for a moment until she recognized her father's cracked horn rimmed glasses.

"I can't get free!" she said panicking "This thing has pinned me down."

Noah Bennett looked at the seat and pulled a small lever beside it.

"Put your feet against the dashboard for leverage", he commanded. "On the count of three push the seat back. 1 2 3!"

Noah and Claire pushed the seat back as the pike disgustingly withdrew from her. Now free she stumbled out of the car. Noah checked up on her injury and as expected saw it rapidly shrinking until there was nothing but a blood stain to prove that the injury was once there. They began walking away from the car accident. A teenager recording them on a camera phone followed close behind the fleeing pair.

"Whoa! You both are just going to walk away from that crash" the teenager with the cellphone said. "I saw what happened! I saw what you did!"

"Stop recording! Noah said.

"What? No way I'm..."

The teen was interrupted when in two quick moves Noah Bennett took his camera and delivered a shot the throat. The teenager fell down clutching his throat, coughing.

They reached more crowded places in the city. Noah was being supported by Claire who had his arm around her shoulder.

"Dad, you're hurt. I should find a way to give you my blood", she suggested.

"No. We need to get you to a safe place." Noah said.

"Where?" She asked.

A rare smile crept across Noah's face. "We're going to an old friend."

_Peter Petreli and Tracy Straus - Washington _

Peter Petreli walked up the stairs of the grey building. He was surprised when he saw Tracy Straus in a smart business suit and a just over the knee skirt waiting for him at the top of the stairs. He pulled his sleeve back to peek at the time.

"Tracy! Am I late?" He asked the blonde.

"No." She said as she buttoned his collar and fixed his tie. "Don't roll your eyes at me Peter Petreli. You need to look represent able if you're going to earn the support of the politicians in there."

"You mean the sharks in there." Peter corrected. "My brother was better at these kinds of things."

"It's a new world and we all have to make adjustments if we're to survive. So you now have to be good at these things." She said as she finished fixing him up.

They walked into the building and through the corridors.

"Remember Peter, politicians can be tricky. Be mindful of what you say and remember, I'll also be there too... to hold your hand."

Peter nodded in agreement as they entered the meeting room. There was a long rectangular, simple wooden table with eight well dressed men and women on either side of table in the room. The conversations they were having quickly died down as Peter and Tracy entered the room. All eyes were on them.

"Good morning." Tracy greeted the gathered politicians.

There were responses of mumbles.

Tracy calmly walked to one chair covered in leather as Peter followed her. They collided when Tracy stopped to pull her chair out. She motioned for Peter to sit and walked to the other side. Tracy was already going to emergency mode. Peter had to look strong and look like he knew what he was doing in order for them to pull this off.

"Shall we begin?" A lady with a red suit sitting nearest to Peter asked.

"Yes." Tracy answered and signaled to Peter to start.

"Hello, my name is Peter Petreli." he began. "I am like you. I am human, except that I have an ability. I do not think that I should be arrested or harassed for that reason. However, I realize that the police will not always be well equipped to deal with people like me."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Someone at the other end of the table asked?

"I suggest that the government fund... a 'Company' that will be tasked with dealing with cases involving people like me."

"A company? How ridiculous. Humans can't trust 'them' to police themselves. And I don't care if the President's predecessor owed you one." A man said. "This is a waste of time."

Tracy knew the man who spoke out against Peter. His name was Gilbert Vikes. He has a lot of influence and is known for being difficult and intolerant. He was in his 50s desperately trying to hide his balding head with a come over. He folded his arms as he leaned back on his chair.

Tracy was about to speak in Peter's defense when another beat her to the draw.

"Calm down Gilbert." A man said. Let's give him a chance to explain more about this 'Company'.

"I want the 'Company' to be another division of law enforcement that deals specifically with people with abilities."

"That idea doesn't sound viable." Another questioned his idea.

Peter was quiet thinking of a response. He was taking too long. Tracy finally spoke up.

"But it is viable." She said. "It has been done before and like with anything it had it's successes and its failures. We believe under the leadership of Mr. Petreli and with the support of the government we can do a lot of good and keep the peace. And overall be better than this ideas' predecessor."

"And how do we know we can trust you once you have our support?" Vikes asked. "How do we know you won't use our resources to amass an army of freaks."

"Yes. Mr. Petreli." The man who had spoken for Peter earlier said. "Can we trust you?"

Peter did not like Vikes' tone and the fact he called them freaks. He looked at Tracy and she nodded in encouragement. "Yes."

"And we are just going to have to trust you?" Vikes sarcastically asked.

"Maybe Mr. Petreli needs to prove himself to put our minds at ease." The man who had spoken for Peter said. "At the 'Carnival incident' you were photographed next to a wanted man. I believe the police have nicknamed him Sylar." The man began to have a coughing fit. He coughed into a black handkerchief.

Peter Petreli gulped at the mention of Gabriel's old alias. He knew that Gabriel had changed and he trusted that he was not the monster he had been. Peter knew where this conversation was going and he felt uneasy. Tracy looked at the coughing man and wondered who he was. She had been out of the politics game for a while but she knew everyone in the room except for this man. She inwardly cursed for not being as well prepared as she thought she had been. She made a mental note to do research on him.

"Excuse me", the man said when he was in control of his bodily functions again. "As I was saying you can prove to us that we can trust you by telling us the whereabouts of this man."

Gabriel had not technically paid for his past crimes as Sylar, Peter reasoned with himself. He was still a criminal and if he didn't give him up the 'Company' would not get off the ground. This was his chance to stop the world from going mad, to protect both normal people and people with abilities.

Peter asked for a pen which Tracy Straus provided. He wrote on a piece of paper and pushed the paper towards the woman near him. "That is his current address."

"Thank you. I'm sure Gilbert can lead the hunt for this man." The man said before another coughing fit. "I suggest we adjourn this meeting." The politicians mumbled their agreement. "Good. The next time we contact you Mr. Petreli we will have an answer." The room then emptied out.

Outside on the stairs Peter stood with Tracy.

"Well done." Tracy said, "you were better than expected."

"Yeah. If you were not with me, it would have been a disaster." Peter knew how important Tracy was. She knew the proper procedures and who to talk to get things done, she was invaluable and he was lucky that she had agreed to help him.

Tracy clenched her fists at how useless she had felt. If anything the man who she did not know had saved their case and shown her that she was not as prepared as she should have been. She was reminded of this when she saw the man approaching him with an African American woman in a maroon suit holding an iPad and a leather bounded notebook. They stood with them, the man had a friendly smile on his face. He was not too obese but his pot belly qualified him as chubby. He had frilly hair that would blow around even in the smallest of breezes.

"Hello again Mr. Petreli and Ms. Straus." he said.

"Hello. You'll have to forgive me but I don't know your name."

"Kenneth Wilcox and this is my assistant Rebecca Maxwells" He said holding out his hand."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Wilcox." Peter said shaking his hand.

"Please call me Kenneth."

Gilbert Vikes approached them too. He did not look as friendly as Kenneth. "I have a bone to pick with you Ken!" He said as he dragged Kenneth off by the shoulder.

"Hey Gilbert."

"First of all don't call me Gilbert in front of..."

Peter could not hear them as they walked away from his hearing range.

"Hmm. Wilcox. I recall a Kenneth Wilcox in the Democrats." Tracy Straus said to Rebecca. "He was a minor figure then."

Rebecca's raised an eyebrow. "Yes. His career has shot up since then."

"What does he do?" Tracy pressed.

"He is and has been involved in many projects." Rebecca answered. "I'm sure you've heard of the Internal Defense Committee."

"He was a member of that Committee?" Tracy exclaimed.

"He initiated and was the chairman until he got redeployed to the president's office." Rebecca answered with a matter of fact tone. "You have been out of the game for a while Ms. Strauss. Maybe you should have started slow and small like an image consultant?"

Peter did not pick up on the hidden insult but Tracy did. Before she could throw her own insult Kenneth returned.

"It was nice meeting you Mr. Petreli and you Ms. Straus." He said "I would not worry about these proceedings if I were you, after all you do have Ms. Straus on your side. Goodbye!"

Peter and Tracy said their goodbyes.

A garage door slid up as hidden leavers rolled it up from the ground. A green motorbike rolled in as a man climbed up a flight of stairs to greet the motorcyclist. The man on the motorcycle took off his crimson helmet and revealed his Asian face.

_Ando and Hiro - Hong Kong, Japan _

"Hello Hiro." Ando said to his friend in Japanese.

"How did the mission go?" Hiro asked also in Japanese.

"Not bad." Ando said as he got off the bike. He had on a tight fitting black jacket and pair of black jeans with red shoes. "How have things been going here?"

"You mean how have I been avoiding devastating boredom?" Hiro said. Hiro had on a scotch jacket suit with matching pants and a white shirt underneath.

"Oh, come on. I'm sure there have been more Hero alerts." Ando said as he was fiddling with something at the other end of the bike. Hero alerts was what they called the messages that they received asking for their help.

"Oh, there have been and all have been for you..." Hiro exclaimed in anger as he saw Ando taking out his katana from the bike. "What are you doing with the my katana?!"

"I needed it for the mission."

Hiro snatched the sword from him and stormed down the stairs. "Don't use the Kensie sword unless you have my permission which I will never give!"

"But you weren't even using it. You did not even notice it was gone." Ando said following close behind him.

"So because you're more popular than me that means you can use my things?"

"Awe! I'm not more popular than you."

"Really? Then why are you the only one who gets Hero alerts."

The melody for a Hero alert went off. They peered into the computer screen.

"Hey look!" Ando exclaimed. "You have a Hero alert!"

Hiro excitedly opened the alert and frowned when he read the message. He backed away, allowing for Ando to read it.

"Dear Hiro." Ando read out loud. "I need help! But I know Ando is busy so please give him this message when he... That's only one."

Hiro slumped in a chair and slowly spun in place. When he began his Hero call project he thought he would be helping people but actually Ando was the one who was helping people. He was a master of space and time and yet people would rather have Ando help them.

"The only reason why I am so popular is because I am handsome. You can take my alerts so that people can find out how awesome you are."

"No thank you." Hiro answered depressingly.

Ando received a call and had a short phone conversation.

"I have a date with your sister."

"That sounds so wrong."

"I'm calling it a night."

The Hero alert melody sounded off.

"You can deal with anything else that comes up." Ando said squeezing his soon to be brother in law's shoulder as he walked out.

Suddenly a webpage opened up on its own. Hiro did not give notice to it at first but the blue screen reflected off of everything including on his pair of glasses. Hiro approached the screen and read the title of the webpage.

"Mainframe's Invitation. Invitation to what?"

Then there was a Hero alert. Hiro was tempted to ignore the message that accompanied the melody but decided against it. He minimized the Mainframe webpage and read the alert.

"Dear Hiro, this is the minister of foreign affairs of India. Our country is in desperate need of your help. Please meet me this area below at the specified time."

A feeling of excitement swept over Hiro Nakumura. He made little jumps in place. Ando had saved a lot of people in this country but he had not saved a whole country. If he did this right he would have one up on him. Hiro put the katana sheath strap around his shoulder and adjusted the position of the katana to allow him to withdraw it quickly. He wrote a message on the computer screen for Ando so that his friend would not worry about him.

"Going to the mission displayed on screen. I will return when possible." He wrote as he said out loud. Hiro left the message for Ando to read. He stood straight and tightened his face in concentration. Then the room suddenly had one less master of space and time.

_Matt Parkman - Parkman's Family Home, LA_

Matt Parkman had an apron on to protect his clothes while he dusted the furniture. His son began to cry in the crib. Matt lifted him up off the crib in an attempt to comfort him.

"Alright big guy. Your milk should be ready right about now." Matt Parkman assured his son.

He walked with Matt Parkman jnr. to the kitchen where a bottle of milk was waiting. He fed the baby the milk and the toddler stopped crying, his mind focused on suckling the milk from the bottle. Matt heard a knock on the door. He wondered who it may be. His wife wasn't due to come for at least another three hours. He opened the door while feeding his son the bottle. He was surprised to see Molly Walker standing by the door.

"Hello Matt." She greeted him.

"M... Molly?" Matt stuttered.

Molly had two bags at either side of her that she picked up. "I would ask you to help me but I can see that your hands are full." She said gesturing to Matt jnr.

"Oh yes! Sorry." Matt Parkman says as he steps aside to let Molly in.

Molly walked into the kitchen of the family home. Unbeknownst to Matt, she had been standing outside for a while, gathering her courage, to knock and speak to a man that she loved but never have spoken to in a long time. She imagined the Parkman family home to be a well sized house that was clean, bright and warm. She was not disappointed but her correct guess of the Parkman home only served to fuel her awkward feeling of being there. Matt had built a new family and she felt like a remnant of the past, the unwanted daughter.

"How did you get here?" Matt asked Molly disturbing her train of thought.

"With an airplane."

"An airplane but your school isn't that far away. Speaking of, why aren't you at school?"

"Uhm... I have not been at that school in a long time." She said. "I have been in India with the Sureshs."

"What? Why didn't Mohinder tell me about this?"

"He only recently found out." She said moving into the living room where she placed her bags on the floor. "I came back to America to stay with you. Spend some time with you."

"Okay. I wish you would have called first." Matt Parkman said as he was thinking of all the explaining he had to do to his wife. "We have a spare room upstairs."

Molly nodded as she went upstairs. Matt felt tinge of guilt as he saw his adopted daughter walking up the stairs. She had grown so tall. It almost felt like she was a different person from the one he had taken cared of after Sylar attacked her. Young Matt was done with the milk and his father proceeded to burp him.

Later that night after all the introductions were made Molly sat down to dinner with the Parkmans. It felt awkward as the silence filled the kitchen \dinning room. Molly felt more like an intruder as the dinner dragged on.

"So, Molly. How is it in India?" Matt' s wife asked.

"It was good." She answered. I was staying with grandma Suresh. She was good to be around. So, you two got hitched?"

"Yes, we did. Our families were there. It was a beautiful event. Better than our first wedding. Uh Matt?"

Matt agreed with his wife as he was already thinking of how he would clean the pot he used to fry the meat.

"I wish I had been there."

"It was a small event." Matt assured her. "Not many people came."

Molly gave a half hearted nod.

"So are you going to go back to India or are you staying in America indefinitely?"

"I am not sure yet. May I be excused?" Molly got up and walked to her new room without waiting for permission. She slumped on her bed sighing. Then she saw someone at her window which was located at the upper floor of the house. She smiled upon seeing the boy. Molly jumped out of bed and opened the window to her friend West who was hovering a few feet above the ground at her window.

"Welcome back to America." West said.

"Thank you West. That's probably the friendliest welcome I've had so far."

"Your first day is rough huh?"

Molly nodded. "I don't think I'm wanted. And... I miss India."

"I didn't believe it when you said you were coming back." He said. "I mean it was hard enough trying to get you to even join Rebel."

Molly thought of how reluctant she had been when West and the rest of the Rebel group asked her to join but she was glad that she did. She had made some good friends like West during her time at Rebel.

"Grandma Suresh said I should come here. She said it would be a growing experience."

West nodded and tried to pretend he knew what she was talking about. "So have you called your boyfriend yet?"

"Micah is not my boyfriend." She said blushing.

"How'd you know I'm taking about Micah then?" West said smugly.

Molly turned an even brighter shade of red as she took a pillow and threw it at West. West flew to the side as the pillow sailed past him. Molly was not normally playful but West was able to bring that out of her. He began to float higher as he spoke to her.

"I'm serious though, call Micah. He'll want to know how your doing and if you need to talk anytime, I'll be here for you." West then shot into the night sky. Molly looked down at the pillow lying on the grass in the yard. How was she going to explain that?

_Noah and Claire Bennett - Chicago _

Noah and Claire Bennett were at a busy airport. They stopped at an aeroplane entrance. Noah searched his jacket and gave Claire a plane ticket. Claire accepted the ticket.

"This plane is going to England. As soon as you land an old friend will pick you up." Noah said to his confused looking daughter.

"You're not coming with me?" She asked him.

"No. Someone has to stay here, find out who is hunting you and hopefully... stop them."

"Dad, I can help you. I'm not the weak cheerleader that everyone has to save anymore. I can help you."

"No you can't. Not while dodging bullets; not when you're one of the most well known faces in the world."

"Why don't you just say it... you think that I'm a burden. For what I've done."

Noah hugged his daughter. "Yes, you are a burden but not for that reason. All children are a burden to their parents in one way or another but that doesn't mean we love them any less. I love you, now go. "

Claire walked reluctantly walked through the terminal entrance towards the plane.

A lonely big house sat atop a small hill overlooking other equally if not more impressive houses. The man inside who could not afford the house on a watch repairman's salary was sitting on a couch watching television.

_Gabriel Grey - Senton_

The house had a few pieces of furniture, revealing that its occupant had just newly acquired the place of dwelling.

Gabriel had used his alchemy power that he took from Bob to turn just enough metal to gold, to be able to afford the house. He had gone back to being a watch repairman but he had resolved not to live like one. Or at least not like the watch repairmen of his family. He sat scrolling through the channels on the television set. He was bored. He knew that being a good man would be hard but he did not know the extent of the difficulty. Just navigating through the routine of everyday life was already an excruciatingly dull process. This, apart for his hunger for power, was the reason why he became Sylar. Buying this house was a coping mechanism, albeit an expensive one. He suddenly stopped on a channel that had a soapie of some woman professing her love to a man. However, Gabriel was not listening to the show, he had felt anxiousness. He did not know where this anxious feeling was coming from but he knew it was not from him. He also felt other emotions like anger but the anxiousness overpowered them all. He knew he was not alone. There was a sound of breaking window glass, a thud and a splattering of a few drops of blood from Gabriel's head before his body fell limp on the floor. Upon Gabriel hitting the ground agents ran in. Some trained there guns on Gabriel's unmoving body. One of the agents crouched down the body. Gabriel's head had a red dot where the bullet from the agents sniper gun had penetrated. He felt Gabriel's pulse and was satisfied when he could not feel one. The agent placed a finger on the small communication device in his ear.

"Sir, the target has been neutralized." He said in a husky voice. Peter Petreli's Intel was correct. Should we get rid of the body now?"

The agent glanced down at the dead body and saw that the head entrance wound had disappeared.

"What the..." He asked interrupted, as he leaned in for a closer look.

Arcs of electricity came out of the body and electrocuted all the agents nearest to it. They fell down stunned. Gabriel got up as a barrage of bullets were fired at him. Using his telekinesis he was able to divert most of the bullets away but some still hit him. He could feel the panic radiating from his shooters. He fell to one knee keeping one hand outstretched to divert all the bullets he could. He poured all his concentration into one big telekinetic push which knocked his attackers off their feet and their guns away. He noticed four agents getting up and trying to draw new weapons ready to try again. He got up walked a few steps and, before anyone could pull a trigger, sent them flying all over the living room. They hit the ground unconscious.

His wounds were rapidly healing as the bullets exited his body and hit the floor with loud 'clink' sounds. He was shot again in the back and without turning and with a small gesture of his hand quickly pushed the weapon away from the shooter. He turned around and saw that one of the agents he had stunned with electric bolts had gotten up on his knees. He recognized him as the man who was speaking into a communicator after he had been first shot.

Gabriel lifted him off the ground with his powers.

"Who sent you here?" He calmly asked.

"I ain't telling shi..." The agents mouth involuntarily was shut.

"If you don't tell me. You will be in great pain. Now, who sent you here? How did you find out about me?"

Gabriel gave the agent the use of his mouth back and he spat at him. Gabriel wiped the saliva mixed with blood off his bullet hole riddled shirt. He did not want to torture the man because of his empathy ability. He felt no fear from the agent and knew torture would be the only way to get answers. He took a deep breath and tried to bury his empathetic ability deep within him and summoned his electric powers. Electricity came from his hand and struck the agent. The agent screamed in agony. Even with the empathetic ability dulled down to the maximum Gabriel could still feel some of the agents pain. This torture was harming him on a smaller level too. He stopped the electricity to give the agent and himself a break.

"Well?" Gabriel asked hopefully.

"I'll tell you what you want to know. I'm not going to suffer for a single more moment for your 'kind'. The agent said. It did not take Gabriel's empathy to sense the agent's hate for his 'kind'. "Your friend Peter Petreli told us where to find you."

Gabriel waited for the tingling feeling he got when someone was lying and was surprised when he received none. How could it have been true. Peter would never betray him, they had become friends or at least allies. What had changed?

"You tortured Peter for the information, didn't you?" It was more of an accusation then a question. That was the only way Gabriel could make sense of it. He unconsciously squeezed the agent harder with his powers.

The agent began spitting blood from the added pressure on his body. "No." He was able to meekly breath out. "He gave the information freely..." The agent coughed out more blood.

Gabriel's breathing became more shallow as he applied more pressure. He gritted his teeth trying to be stronger than the pain he felt thanks to his empathy.

In his perceived last moments the agent was struggling to breath let alone speak. "...with the goal to see you dead." The agent said with a bloody smile and spite in his voice.

The tingling that Gabriel felt off the lie snapped him out of his murderous trance. He let the agent fall to the floor where he gasped for air.

It was funny how Gabriel had complained about how bored he was but now he would have rather been bored then do what he now had to do. He flew out of the house heading for Washington.

To be continued.


	2. The Trials of People With Conviction

**Disclaimer Alert**

The characters appearing originally in the Heroes series, web comics and novel do not belong to me. I think they belong to Tim Kring but I definitely know that some or a large part of it belongs to the NBC. That's right ladies and gentlemen behind every great concept there lies a face-less corporation.

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**Author's note**

YUCK! That was what I thought when I read my previous chapter. It looks like I didn't proof read it but I promise I did. Sometimes the mind reads from the vision in the mind and not the text in front of it. This time I did not proof read immediately upon completion, so hopefully there'll be less grammatical and spelling errors.

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**Heroes: Brave New World**

**Episode 2**

A man in a black ski mask ducked behind a car just as a rain of bullets shot at where he had been seconds before. He laid the body he had been carrying over his shoulder onto the dusty ground. The body turned over to look up, revealing the Asian face of Hiro Nakamura.

"Hiro! You've got to teleport us out of here!" The man said over the sounds of gunfire.

Hiro closed his eyes in intense concentration but as hard as he tried his mind could not gather enough focus to activate his ability.

"I still can't! They did something to me!" He said something in Japanese.

The man in the ski mask peeked from under the vehicle he was hiding behind and went back down just as bullets whizzed over his head. He had Hiro's katana in his hand but doubted it would do them much good at this distance against guns.

"They've got us pinned down, Hiro!" He said. "If you don't get us out, we'll die here."

Hiro closed his eyes again as a another volley of bullets hit the car. A bullet hit the fuel tank and the car exploded into a fiery blaze, killing anyone who had been near it.

_3 days earlier _

_Mohinder Suresh - India_

Suresh stood in front of the lecture hall teaching the students.

"Most scenarios that evolutionists use to prove the theory of evolution involve a change the environment. This change forces a species to evolve certain characteristics that will enable them to survive." Mohinder said. He began to write on the black board: 'Human vs Neanderthal'. "There was a point in time were the Earth was inhabited by both early humans and Neanderthals. Then the environment changed and the humans evolved and survived but the Neanderthals became extinct. That is an example of survival of the fittest, natural selection, you name it! Look at the Earth today, it has changed a lot during the late 20th century and into the 21st. However, unlike the other changes in history, this change is man made. Human beings innovation has become so great that we no longer need to adapt to realize our needs but we change our environment so that it may provide our needs. We bring rain to arid areas by seeding clouds; if a place is too cold we pump in warm air to make it warm; we even meddle with the very nature of other organisms by genetically modifying crops to be resistant to drought and parasitic insects."

A student put up her hand and Mohinder motioned for her to speak. "But by the rules of evolution shouldn't the parasitic insects evolve to survive?"

"Yes, they should and, who knows, maybe one day they will." Mohinder answered. "But there is a chance that other species affected by the man made environment will also evolve, this includes humans themselves. If a certain population of humans change the environment in such a way that it satisfies their needs but disadvantages another population of humans then the latter might have to evolve to survive their new environment."

A student raised his hand and Mohinder motioned for him to speak.

"Sorry sir, the lecture time is done."

Mohinder nodded and dismissed the class. "Don't forget to study for next weeks test and read chapter 12 of your textbooks!" He had to shout to be heard over the noise of people packing up and leaving. Some students hung around Mohinder for a while to ask questions but even they left after some time.

The lecture hall was now almost empty except for Mohinder who was packing his laptop and books away and a few students who were slow to do the same because they were talking to someone else at the same time. Mohinder could see two people walking down the stairs of the lecture hall from the corner of his eye. The man who was walking in front was very short while the man and they both wore black suits. Mohinder ignored them until he could not anymore. He was surprised when a shadow fell on to his books. He looked up and saw a big man standing over him. He realized that the very short man he had seen earlier was not really short, he was just dwarfed by the bigger man. As if to further prove this, two more men walked out from behind him, which Mohinder guessed that they had been walking behind him the whole time.

The two additional men who had just appeared completed a triangle of protection. One walked to his left and the other one stood behind him facing the opposite direction and the one who Mohinder had mistakenly thought was short was at the big man's other side. They all wore black suits and pants with black ties except for the big man who had on a red tie. Where Mohinder's head stopped the man's chest began.

He smiled and offered his hand. "Hello Dr. Suresh, I am Amir Prakesh."

Mohinder met the man's hand with his own. He half expected his hand to be crushed but was surprised to find that the man's hand shake was just firm. Mohinder had to mentally stop himself from using his super strength to injure the man the way he had been afraid to be injured.

"What can I do for you Mr. Prakesh?" Mohinder asked.

"I was listening to your lecture on evolution and humans, I found it quite fascinating, not only that but the way you spoke of it made me think that you have at least experienced it."

Mohinder involuntarily gulped, "I haven't experienced it." Mohinder was not sure if this guy had discovered his secret. Does he know of his abilities or was this just a coincidence. He looked around the lecture hall. It was now almost empty with the last students drizzling out. He looked at the man's three bodyguards and saw the faint shape of a gun handle protruding from their jackets.

He estimated his chances of survival if things got violent. By using his lecturing desk as a weapon he could swing it and take out Amir and his two bodyguards but the one who was further back would be a problem because he could turn around and shoot him down if Mohinder was not quick enough.

Mohinder placed his hand on the edge of the desk as Amir spoke. "Of course, your passion must have been inherited from your father. I believe he was researching the same thing?"

"Yes, he was."

"Well, he has been justified by the events that happened in America. I want India to benefit from these people and their abilities, therefore I have begun a project to collect them and study them. I want you Dr. Suresh to be apart of it."

Mohinder did not like how Amir said 'collect', as if they were things to be collected. Furthermore, his father had committed the same mistake of gathering people with abilities in one place to study them and it had disastrous consequences. Most importantly, his wife would kill him if he got himself involved in this situation in any way.

"Thank you for the offer Mr. Prakesh but I'm afraid I'll have to decline." Mohinder saw a flash of anger appear on Amir's face. Mohinder instinctively squeezed harder on the desk in preparation of a fight. He relaxed slightly when the angry face was replaced with a disappointed one.

"If you work for me, I'll pay you four times what you earn now"

At the mention of money, Mohinder remembered who the Prakesh family were. They were one of the most richest and powerful families in India.

Mohinder was tempted but at the end decided it was better not to. "I'm sorry but I still can't."

Amir Prakesh nodded and handed him his business card. "Okay but just in case you change your mind here's my card with my contact details."

Mohinder accepted the card and watched them leave. He knew nothing good would come out of this and he planned to be as far away from it as possible when Amir Prakesh's plans backfired. After some time he left the lecture hall. If he had looked back at his desk, he would have noticed his hand print imprinted deeply into the desk's side.

_Molly Walker - Parkman family home, LA_

Molly Walker sat cross-legged on her bed reciting something just under her breath. Light streamed in from the spaces between the door and its frame into the dark room. The only sound in the room was of her whispering to herself.

She suddenly felt as if there was someone or something watching her. She opened her eyes and looked behind her. It took some time for her eyes to re-adjust to the darkness. All she saw was her own image, in a mirror located behind her, looking back at her. She involuntarily shivered.

She heard Janice Parkman calling her name from downstairs for dinner. Molly jumped off the bed and opened the door. She stared into the dark and as she closed the door she could not help but think that she was not the only who had moved in with the Parkmans. There was someone or something else that was in the Parkman house.

Meanwhile, Matt Parkman was in the basement in a kind of trance. His eyes were completely white as he painted the image in his head on the canvas in front of him.

He began to withdraw from his trance as his pupils returned to his eyes. He looked at his painting that was still wet with paint.

The painting showed Matt and Janice Parkman standing over a empty crib. Matt looked worryingly at the painting but he did not have enough time to completely analyse its meaning before he heard Molly and Janice arguing.

He looked around the dark basement and found a sheet covering a table, with drawers, that had fallen into disuse. He placed the painting under the sheet before he ran for the door.

He arrived at the kitchen to find his wife and adopted daughter arguing. Janice was holding a crying Matt jnr. in her arms.

"I know how to take care and hold babies, Janice!" Molly said. "I am not a complete fool!"

"I never said that, Molly." Janice Parkman said.

"Then why will you not let me at least hold him?"

Matt stood between the two of them. "Come on now, what's this about?"

"She does not trust me with Matt. I tried to pick him up and she would not allow it." Molly said accusingly.

"Molly, I was planning on feeding him that's why I didn't want you to."

"See Molly, you overreacted." Matt said.

Molly shook her head. "Of course I did. I am just a problem child who is prone to overreacting and should be sent away to some boarding school." She ran up the stairs and into her room.

Matt felt like that comment was aimed at him.

When she got to her room she closed the door and dove into her bed. She silently cried into her pillow. After some time she got out of bed and carefully climbed out of the window. She had to be careful at climbing down the side of the house. When she got to the ground, guided by the stars and moonlight, she ran into the quiet street.

_West and Micah Sanders - Manhattan _

West sat in the blue recliner of the expensive apartment while drinking a bottle of some green soft drink with a straw. He pulled a small lever on the recliner and it eased him back.

He sighed while sipping his drink. "Micah, you've got it good."

Micah came from a hallway with a laptop under his forearm. "It is only temporary. While I'm visiting my aunt." He said as he sat on a couch adjacent West.

"When can I visit your aunt? Wait, that came out wrong."

Micah ignored him as he typed on the laptop. The bright screen reflected a blue light onto his face. West discovered something new about the chair.

"It even has a cup holder!" He said as he placed his bottle in the newly discovered cup holder. "This can no longer be considered as sitting down, now I'm lounging."

West's mobile phone began to ring. He looked at the screen and did not recognize the number that appeared. "Hello?"

From the other side of the phone came the voice of Molly. "Hello West."

"Molly, hey!" He said smiling at Micah who had begun to hide his face by leaning closer to the laptop screen. If only black people could blush, he thought to himself. "Are you okay? You sound like..."

"Yes, I am alright." She said in a quite voice. "I just got into a fight with the _Parkmans_. I do not think that I can do this any longer. I'm going back to India."

"But you haven't been here for very long. What would your grandmother say if you quite so early and over a' argument?"

"I do not know."

"Give it a few more days." West said.

"Alright, I will. Maybe I am overreacting."

"Are these your phone numbers?"

"No." Molly said. "I am at a pay phone."

"At this time of night? You should get your own phone."

They said their goodbyes and West placed his phone back into his pocket. He then stared at Micah for several moments. Micah continued to type on the keyboard of the laptop. West realised that Micah was not going to say anything, at least not about the conversation he had just had.

"Aren't you going to ask me who that was?"

He did not stop typing while he answered. "First, it's none of my business who that was because it was your call not mine. Secondly, I know it was Molly because you said her name."

"That was cold." West observed as he further eased the recliner back.

Micah stopped typing and looked up at West. "I'm sorry."

The recliner had been pulled so far back that West was now looking up at the ceiling. "When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"A few days after Rebel disbanded."

"Why haven't you two spoken since then? Did you have a fight?"

"No."

"Is she boring to you?

"No!"

"Oh! So you're scared to talk to her."

"What? No!" Micah said defensively. "I'll talk to her before she goes back to India. Can we get back to the reason why I called you here?"

"Yeah."

"There is this message that people with abilities including me got." Micah turned the laptop screen to face West who sat up to see the message.

West had to get up to see it. He began to read the message out loud. "Mainframe's invitation: Mainframe cordially invites you, with abilities, to a meeting on the 21st. Come, so that people like us, like you, people who are special, may unite."West thought about the message he had just read. "Almost looks like something you would do."

"Yes but I knew better than just gathering our people in one place. And I don't know why this guy is gathering people with abilities."

"You think he could be making an army?"

"Maybe. Or it could be a trap." Micah said. "Either way, I want to investigate this meeting. I would go myself but if this is a trap, someone who can get away quickly and effortlessly needs to go.

West smiled as he leaned back onto the recliner. "Someone like me."

"Yes. I know I'm asking a..."

"I'll do it, Micah."

The door to the apartment suddenly opened and Tracy Strauss walked into the room with plastic bags of food in either got up from the recliner so fast that he fell over. He quickly got on his feet. Tracy looked at the recliner that he had been sitting on. She was surprised that it could be pulled that far back.

"Micah, I didn't know you would have friends coming over."

Micah had removed the message on his laptop screen with his powers and opened a chess game. "He was just passing by."

West went over to her and offered his hand. She took his hand in hers. "Hello..., my name is West."

"Nice to meet you West."

The handshake took longer than normal. West was so captivated by Tracy Strauss that he did not want to let her hand go. He thought that she was a beautiful woman and she was blonde, West liked blondes.

Tracy was able to pull her hand away as Micah said something to her. "West was just leaving." He informed her.

West looked at Micah and sighed. "It was nice to meet you, Ms Hawkins. Micah, you'll call me right?"

"Hey." Tracy called out to him as he left. "I'm not a Hawkins, I'm Tracy Straus."

Tracy waited for West to leave before she sat down next to Micah who was concentrating on the computer game on his laptop.

"I didn't know you had friends here in Manhattan."

"I don't."

"So, is he special?"

Micah hesitated. He had an agreement with his aunt that if he wanted to stay under her roof, he would not be involved with his Rebel group.

"In his own way." Micah answered.

Tracy got up. "So, what do you want for dinner?"

_Peter Petreli &amp; Emma Kooldridge - Manhattan _

Peter Petreli was talking on the phone while Emma patiently waiting for him to finish. She looked at the faint colours that his voice would make. They were not vivid colours so they could be easily ignored but she found it interesting to see what colours his voice would make. She had been focusing so intensely on his voice that she had not noticed that he was done speaking on the phone and was now talking to her.

"Emma. Emma." Peter said trying to get her attention.

Emma stopped looking at the colours and looked down on the table embarrassed. She made a few hand signals to communicate with him

Peter was still learning sign language and in the flurry of hand movements recognized the sign for sorry. "It's okay. I'm not much good company right now , with me getting ready to move to Washington."

Emma took out a pen and wrote on a piece of tissue and handed it to Peter. The message read: "This doesn't seem like a good time for you to be doing this. Maybe we should do it another time?"

"No." Peter protested. "I don't know how much time I'll have after I move. I might not have much time to spend with my friends and family." When Peter said this he instinctively reached out to hold Emma's hands. When he realised what he had done his heart began to beat a little faster.

Emma squeezed his hand. His warm hands felt comforting to her. She wanted to tell him that she did not want him to move but her hands were too preoccupied to sign or write.

"Hopefully not. Tracy said that we don't have to move there permanently, just until we can get everything ready."

Emma withdrew her hands from his at the mention of the other woman's name. Peter had told her of Tracy a few times but she had never met her before. She wrote on a piece of paper"Living together?"

"No." Peter said. "But thankfully she did help me find a place. You know, she is used to rubbing shoulders with the politician types so she knows Washington very well."

Emma felt a twinge of jealousy knowing how close they would probably be working together.

"I'll keep in touch via email." Peter assured her. His phone began to ring again and with a sigh Peter picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hello Peter." The voice of Noah Bennett said to him on the other side of the call.

"Noah, where are you?" Peter asked excitedly.

"I can't tell you that... yet." Noah said. "Peter, Claire is being hunted down and I need your help to protect her, to find out who is behind it."

"I'm going to have to stop you there Noah." Peter said interrupted him. "I have my hands full with my part in cleaning up her mess. This is a critical time for us. What happens now might determine our future."

"Our future? It's only been a few months since Claire had told the world and already she is being hunted down like a dog. What hope do you have for a future if you can't even protect her?"

"I'm sorry Noah. I can't do anything for her. Not now."

"Tracy has you whipped. This... This doesn't sound like the Peter I know."

"This is the Peter that I need to be."

Noah hung up on him.

"I guess that conversation did not go well." Lauren Gilmore said from behind Noah.

Noah turned to face her with disappointment on his face. "No it didn't."

They were in a storage facility. They walked through the area with Noah leading and Lauren following close behind. Noah stopped at one of the storage bunkers. Noah opened the garage door by sliding it up.

The bunker was filled with guns, a few grenades and other types of bombs. Lauren Gilmore walked inside the bunker with awe.

"I thought your weapons bunker was destroyed."

"This is my back up bunker."

Lauren giggled as she loaded a gun with bullets. Lauren turned around and saw Noah standing closer to her.

"I haven't heard someone laugh for a long time. It sounds good." He said. He leaned in to kiss her then his face took on a more serious look. "You don't have to do this, Lauren. Especially since we don't know what we're up against."

This time it was Lauren who instigated the kiss. "You're not going to get rid of me that easy, Noah Bennett."

Noah smiled as Lauren picked out a few more weapons that would be easily concealed. She also took a suitcase which had a disassembled sniper rifle. Noah put a few stun, fire and explosive grenades into a bag along with some ammo for the guns they had already took. When they were done Lauren left the bunker leaving Noah to close the garage door behind her.

"We should go to the FBI headquarters. I still have enough friends there who can help us track down these guys. And when we do they'll wish they never messed with your daughter."

_Anita Rodriguez - Ohio, Vows Asylum_

Anita Rodriguez sat in the small room. The sun was streaming in from the barred window of the asylum. Her room had a bed but she preferred to sit on the ground. The cold in the hard ground she was sitting on began to seep its way up into her legs. She ignored the discomfort and continued to sit on the floor.

She heard the latch of the door begin to slide to the unlock position and an asylum worker entered her room. He was a big man with muscles and a shaven head. In his hand he had a plate of food.

"Aren't you going to say hello, Rodriguez?" The man said.

"Hello, Brent." She said quietly.

"I have your lunch for you." Brent said. "But I can't give it to you. You don't give a dog food because it looks cute. You give it food when it does tricks." Brent bent down and held the plate of food out. "So do a trick for me."

Anita stayed quiet and looked down onto the floor.

"Come on now. Do a simple trick." Brent encouraged her. "At least bark for me, come on. Woof woof."

Anita began to bark quietly.

"You'll have to do better than that." He said. "Louder."

Anita began to bark a little louder.

"You are a useless dog. That was the worst barking I've ever heard and for that you deserve to eat off the floor." Brent turned the plate upside down and let it drop onto the floor.

He then left the room. When the doors closed Anita was once again alone. She began considering eating her lunch off of the floor. She decided against. She began to shiver as she remembered the cold of the floor she was on.

Anita looked at the light that was streaming in from the window on to her bed. It looked so inviting. She was about to get off the floor and onto the bed when she heard a voice speak to her.

"You shouldn't be treated like that." The voice said.

Anita kept still, too afraid to move.

"No one who is as special as you should be." The voice continued.

"You... you think I'm special?" She asked the voice.

"Of course." The voice assured her.

"How do you know?"

I can feel it... in my bones."

_Ando M and Kimiko Nakamura - Japan Hong Kong _

Ando opened the door and held it open for Kimiko to walk in. She looked around at the place.

"So, this is where you and my brother waste the company's resources." Kimiko said in Japanese.

"Hiro believes in this thing and so do I." Ando said.

Hiro Nakamura had not been seen since last night by Ando. Ando was initially not worried by it but Kimiko was, which made him worry. She had made him agree to take her to their headquarters.

"Do you have any way of knowing where he is?" Kimiko asked as she walked deeper into the heart of the headquarters.

Ando scratched his head. "Not that I know of. I guess we can look for some kind of note or something."

Ando began to look around for a while. Kimiko saw the computer in the room and noticed that it had a red light on. She looked at Ando who was still looking around for a note.

"Did you notice that your computer is on sleep mode?" She said while turning the computer on.

"That is strange." Ando said. "Hiro usually turns everything off when he leaves.

Ando stood besides his fiance while she looked over the computer screen. "Look at this webpage. It's in English."

"Mainframe's invitation?" Ando read the title out loud.

"It is an invitation for people like us." Kimiko said. "'People like us', what does that mean? People who are irresponsible, secretive and dreamers?"

"I don't know." Ando said, pretending not to notice the joke.

Kimiko stared at Ando. He began to smile nervously. He and Hiro had not told her of their abilities yet. He wanted to tell her before they got married but everytime he tried fear made him chicken out.

"You know, I wasn't just describing Hiro." She said to him.

When she said that to him he began to feel guilt along with his fear. "We'll find him."

"I hope so." She said putting her arms around Ando. "I've lost the people I love in some of the most awful ways or when I need them most. You and Hiro are the last family I have and I don't want to lose either of you."

"You won't." He said.

They turned to the computer and finished reading the rest of the message.

"I'll go to America on the first plane out of here." Ando said. We'll get him back."

_Mohinder Suresh - Somewhere _

Mohinder woke up with a start. He was not in his bed or even in his house. He instinctively looked to his side and saw that his wife was not there. That was what had made him wake up initially.

He was in a small room with a hard cement floor and prison bars at one end. He looked at the other end and saw a boy that looked familiar.

"Sanjog Iyer?" Mohinder said. "What is going on? Where am I?"

"It is not important." Sanjog said. "I am here to warn you. A man called Hiro 'Nakamua' just appeared in India. He believes he has been summoned to the Tamasha site to help but it is a trap set by Amir Prakesh." Sanjog had mispronounced Hiro's surname.

"Hiro Nakamura? How do you know this?"

"I've seen Amir's dreams and a friend of mine saw Hiro appear in the middle of the street."

Sanjog got up to walk to him but something pulled on his leg. There was a short ankle chain on the boy connected to the wall.

"What is that?" Mohinder asked. "Who has done this to you?"

"This is my punishment for not helping him." Sanjog said motioning with his eyes at the prison bars.

Mohinder looked at the bars and saw a big silhouette shadow standing on the other side. The shadow was quite but Mohinder knew who it was, Amir Prakesh.

"And he will do much worse to Hiro if you do not help him." This was the last thing Mohinder heard Sanjog say before he woke up in his bed.

"Are you okay?" His wife asked him, also being awakened by his sudden start.

"Yes, I am." Mohinder said still thinking of the big silhouette he had seen at the other side of the cell bars.

_Claire Bennett - London, England _

Claire's plane had landed in London two hours ago and was still waiting for the contact her father had set up to come fetch her. She wanted to go to the reception and ask for a plane back home to her family but she had no money and the ticket she had was a one-way.

"Claire Bennett." Someone from behind her called her almost like in a whisper but not.

Claire looked at the person who had called her. She smiled when she saw Renè formally known as the Haitian standing there smiling.

"Renè!" She said hugging him.

"So you live in London now." Claire commented as he led them out of the airport to his car.

"Yes," Renè said. "I came here in an attempt to settle down but I'm starting to think that that is impossible for people like us."

"People with abilities." Claire offered.

"No, people with conviction."

A light drizzle had begun to pour down onto the city. The sun was nothing more than a yellow disk in the sky. They drove through the busy streets of London to get to Renè's apartment.

Claire had excepted a small place but the apartment was of a decent size. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a small kitchen and a bathroom. Unlike the outside weather, the place was warm and dry. Renè led Claire to her room and placed her luggage on the floor.

"This will be where you will sleep. When you are ready, you can come to the kitchen and warm up some food."

Claire nodded as Renè left her alone in the room. Claire sat on the bed and looked out of the window at the sorry weather. Wondering how the people she left behind in her home country were doing.

_Mohinder Suresh - India _

Mohinder was walking through the streets of India. While walking he saw a peculiar thing in India. He saw a ski mask being sold at a hat shop. He thought it was strange that anyone would sell ski masks in India, considering that their winter was not severe enough to need a ski mask or even a hat.

"23 rupees." The seller said to him when he saw Mohinder looking at the ski mask.

Mohinder also saw a brown jacket. I'll take it and how much for the jacket.

_Peter Petreli and Tracy Straus - Manhattan _

Peter Petreli put a vase in a box. His apartment was beginning to be devoid of everything except big furniture pieces like the couch and fridge. Tracy emerged from the hallway.

"Peter," Tracy said. "You know one of the main points of moving is to get rid of all the things you no longer need or want."

Peter sat down on the couch and looked out of the window to the night sky. He remembered how he had the ability to fly. Although he had loved that ability he felt like he did not have enough opportunities to enjoy it. He thought of his brother, Nathan, and how he too did not get the opportunities to truly enjoy it.

"These things have sentimental value." Peter said still looking out the window, thinking of his brother.

Tracy sat down next to him on the couch. "Well, you'll have to pack away your sentimental value on your own."

Peter turned his gaze to her eyes. "Thank you for your help."

Tracy took off her heels and lifted her legs up onto the couch. "I didn't do much, Peter."

"No. I'm talking about you helping me with everything."

Tracy sighed and leaned closer to Peter so that he would take what she would say next, seriously. "Peter, I think you have the wrong idea about why I'm helping you." She said. "I... I'm not doing this to help people with powers. In fact I couldn't care less about them. I'm helping you to free myself."

"From what?" Peter asked.

"From everything. All my life I thought I was in control until I found out I had these powers. After that I found out I had an identical twin sister and that it is possible that every decision I've ever made up until that point might not have been mine. Then, Nathan amasses an army and imprisons me, which ended in my death. And don't even get me started on Sam and his Carnival. I'm helping you so that I can control my life and to be the one who pulls the strings behind the scenes for once"

"It doesn't need to be like that."

"Oh, but it does Peter." Tracy said while caressing his cheek. "This doesn't mean I don't believe in you. You will succeed."

Peter held her hand and they both kissed passionately which led to more.

_Hiro Nakamura - India _

Hiro tied his shoe lases. He had just woken up from a nap he had just taken. The sun was high in the sky over India. He had been sharing an apartment with some of the citizens that he had made friends with.

He walked through the busy streets to the sight that he had agreed to meet the minister. He was about to prove himself to be a great hero and the prospect excited him.

He wondered what they would want him to do. Would they ask him to take down some kind of secret society. Maybe an army of villains had gathered in India and they need a Master of space and time to defeat them.

Whatever it was he knew that he would try his best and he would succeed.

_Emma Kooldridge - Manhattan _

Emma was in a lift heading up to apartment that belonged to Peter Petreli. She had bought a few items of stationery that she believed would help him pack his things. She had things like sticky tape to secure the boxes and a marking pen to label them and a few other things.

The lift stopped and the doors opened with a ping. Peter's apartment building was not much better than hers. Something she found surprising considering where he grew up and who his family was.

She walked to the door of his apartment and gave it a knock. The door opened and instead of Peter she saw a woman in a striped white shirt that barely covered her underwear.

"Hello," Tracy said. "Are you room service or something?"

Peter saw Emma from over Tracy's shoulder. "Emma!" He said surprised and remembering that he had asked her to help him move.

Tracy glanced at Peter who was frantically getting dressed. She turned her attention back to Emma.

"Oh, you're Emma." Tracy said with her most friendliest smile and offering her a handshake. "I'm Tracy Straus."

Emma did not know what to do. She opened her mouth as if she would say something. She quickly headed for the lift.

Peter ran past Tracy chasing after Emma. "Emma wait!" He shouted as she turned into a corner.

She pressed the button for the lift and it opened.

"Emma." Peter called when he had reached her.

Emma shoved the stationery supplies she had bought into his arms.

She stepped into the lift leaving Peter in the hallway. "Emma... lets... let's talk about this."

Emma pointed at her mouth and shrugged as the lift doors closed. As soon as she was out of sight she began to cry.

Peter walked back to the room. He sat down onto the backrest of the couch. He would have to do some damage control first thing tomorrow.

Tracy stepped through the door and surprised him. "Wow! You're already dressed. That was fast."

Tracy was back in her suit, pure white shirt and black pants. It looked like she had never taken them off.

"So Peter," Tracy said. "Are you going to betray me like you betrayed Gabriel?"

The question had caught him off guard. "Huh?"

Tracy held out her hand like a claw and then suddenly Peter's windpipe was squeezed. Peter grabbed at his throat desperately trying to breath.

Tracy continued using the invisible force to choke Peter while she slowly approached him. Peter's confusion was added to Peter's terror as he saw another Tracy Straus walk out of the hallway. This Tracy Straus had on just her striped shirt and a pair of black pants.

The Tracy Straus strangling him with invisible hands began to change. Her body, face and even her clothes began to shift unnaturally until she became Gabriel.

Upon seeing what was happening to Peter, a stream of powerful water bursts out of her hands and hits Gabriel in the back. It had enough force to push him out of the apartment window.

Tracy rushed to Peter who's ability to breath had returned to him but had fallen over on to the couch. Tracy helped him up to his feet.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

Peter coughed once as he tried catch his breath. "I'll be fine."

"So that was Sylar?" Tracy noted. "I don't know what everyone is so afraid of. I took care of him easily."

Peter was about to say something when Tracy was pulled away from him by an unseen force. She was pulled out of the window that Gabriel had been pushed out of. Tracy began to feel the familiar feeling of falling as she passed a few stories in her decent.

On her way down she passed Gabriel who was flying up. Their faces met for a brief instance that felt longer to both of them. Gabriel not only saw the fear in her face but he could feel it too. After the encounter they continued on their respective paths, Gabriel being propelled up by his ability and Tracy being pulled down by gravity.

Peter ran to the window to see if Tracy was okay but stopped when Gabriel flew through it and landed in front of him.

"Gabriel, wait..." Peter began but was stopped when Gabriel held out his fist and opened it. Electricity leapt from his palm and struck Peter.

Peter was brought to his knees by the energy coursing through him. It took some willpower from Gabriel not to follow suit. His empathy ability made sure that he could feel some of the pain that he was subjecting to Peter.

When Peter was down on his knees, Gabriel began to close his hand. A few stray sparks leapt between his fingertips and when his hand was completely closed into a fist, the electricity and crackling sounds stopped. Gabriel wanted to keep Peter on his knees so that he would not lunge at him to touch him and mimic one of his powers.

"Why did you tell them were I was Peter?" Gabriel asked. "Why do you want me dead?"

"Gabriel, I didn't know they would try to kill you."

Gabriel felt the familiar tingle that told him that Peter was lying. He opened his hand again and let electricity hit him. Peter groaned under the pain of the electricity flowing through him into the ground. The smell of burning cloth began to fill the air. Gabriel had been holding back, making sure that the electricity was enough to hurt Peter but not permanently damage him or kill him.

"That's a lie." He said calmly.

"I'm sorry but I had no choice." Peter said getting up on to one knee. "Gabriel, people like us might be danger and all I'm trying to do is protect them. Not all of them can protect themselves like you can, people like Claire can't.

"Claire?"

"Yes," Peter said getting up on to his feet. "She's being hunted down. And she might be the first of many. That's why I have to do everything in my power to gain the governments trust, even ratting you out. I knew you could handle yourself, though."

Gabriel nodded. "Okay, I understand. You need to do what you have to."

Peter walked closer to him. "I'm truly am sorry." He said holding out his hand.

Gabriel knew that he was sincere. His lie detector ability did not go off and his empathy also told him. However, even without his abilities he would still know that Peter was sincere, that was the kind of person Peter was.

He reached out and shook his hand feeling stupid for what he had done. "I'm sorry too. For all of this. I guess I still have some way to go to change my ways. Don't worry about your blonde friend. I made sure her landing was soft."

"That proves that you're making good progress on becoming a better person. We all try to be better people and there are times when we fail. All of us."

Gabriel nodded and turned around to leave and when he got to the window Peter called out to him.

"Wait!" Peter said. "About Claire. Do you think you could help her? Protect her from whoever is trying to capture her?"

"Me? Help Claire Bennett. She wouldn't allow that, she hates me."

"Then give her a reason not to."

"Do you know where she is?"

Peter shook his head and Gabriel flew out of the window. Just as he flew out Tracy came bursting in through the door, ready for another round but saw Peter alone in the room.

"Where is he?" She shouted. "Where is Sylar?"

Peter motioned to the broken window that he would have to pay for before he moved. "Gabriel's gone."

She sighed in relief. "Are you okay?"

Peter nodded.

"Peter you need to get a better power than that weak rock moving thing you have."

"I told you that I can't. I need to appear harmless to these politicians so that they don't see me as a threat."

"Fine, then I'm going to get you a bodyguard."

"There is no bodyguard who can protect me against someone like Gabriel."

"Then we need a bodyguard like him."

_Hiro Nakamura - India _

Hiro finally arrived at the site. The Tamasha site was a barren land a few meters wide. It was scattered with boulders and just outside its brown and sandy boaders was the city. The site used to be a mountain that was mined out of minerals and now there were plans to build a blocks of flats at the site.

Hiro walked to the middle of the site were a man was waiting for him. He was a tall Indian man with a blue suit. Behind him was a Mercedes Benz with two men in suits leaning on the site.

The Indian man stepped forward to meet him. "Hello Mr. Nakamura." He said bowing to him.

Hiro in turn bowed to him. "Hello Minister."

"Thank you for agreeing to meet me."

"Anything I can do to help. Uhm... What do you need my help for?"

Amir Prakesh looked at Hiro from afar through binoculars. He regarded the small Asian man that he saw. He was a swordsman, a fact made obvious by the katana slung over his shoulder. He did not think though that he was a threat physically or in close combat. Amir was also an expert with the sword, training to master it since the age of fifteen. But he knew that the Asian's strength did not lie in his physical prowess but rather in the rumor that he could bend time itself.

Amir tore his gaze from Hiro and looked upon his sniper positioned some distance away from him and Hiro. The sniper was armed with a tranquilizer dart that would make it hard for him to concentrate. The research that he hired his people to do suggested that most of these people have to have at least some concentration to willingly use their abilities. But the sniper was a last resort if things did not go as planned.

Hiro was listening quietly as the Minister told him what he needed his help for. The Minister invited him to the car so that they could drive to a more secure location to further discuss the mission. Hiro nodded as he was led to the car by the Minister. Suddenly a car appeared at the far end of the site. It was shrouded in dust as it speedily made its way to them. The men who were leaning on the car sprang to action and fired at the incoming dust cloud.

The car did not slow down as it continued to barrel towards them. The excitement in Hiro was rising fast. He was already seeing some action. He withdrew the Kensie sword from its sheath lying on his back. The sword glinted in the bright sun of India. He was about to charge at the car when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck.

He instinctively grabbed at the spot where he felt the pain. He was surprised when he found something lodged into his neck. He pulled it out and found that it was a dart.

The oncoming car slammed into the Minister's Mercedes Benz. The car came to a stop as its momentum was carried over to the Mercedes. The Mercedes lurched forward. The car was a former white Toyota that now looked brown because of the dust. The car turned and headed for Hiro and the minister.

The Minister quickly ran out of the way leaving Hiro in its path. Hiro was still inspecting the dart in his hand. His mind had already begun to be clouded. He looked up too late when he saw the car coming. Hiro rolled out of the way but it was already too late. Lucky for him, the car swerved to the side to avoid hitting him.

Mohinder was relieved to have missed Hiro. If it was not for his heightened reflexes, Hiro would have been dead. It would have been strange if he came here to save him but ended up killing him.

He opened up the car door. Hiro was still lying on the ground trying to get up. Mohinder grabbed him and pulled him into the car and over his lap. Hiro swung his sword at Mohinder, unsuccessfully as he drove away from the men firing at the Toyota with Time Master's legs hanging out.

Mohinder had on a black ski mask and a brown jacket completed with faded blue jeans. He turned Hiro around who was unsure what to do. He began to close his eyes in intense concentration to stop time. He failed but was only able to slow it down. Hiro could see a bullet whiz by his kidnappers head into the windshield. The glass began to crack. Even in his confused state Hiro could see every crack on the windshield spreading out and splitting and branching. When the windshield's surface was 60% cracked, time began to speed up again and the cracks instantly reached every corner of the windshield.

Hiro was further confused by his failure. If his effort failed, he would need his sword. Where was his sword? Had he entered the vehicle with his sword? Hiro struggled to focus or even form a thought. He narrowed his eyes at the driver in the mask and was able to form only one thought.

"Who are you?" He asked.

Mohinder rolled the mask up enough to reveal his face but not take it off. "It's me, Hiro."

It took some time for Hiro to recognize the man. "Dr. Suresh!" He exclaimed then said something in Japanese.

Mohinder did not have time to decipher what Hiro had just said because the car suddenly came to a stop. A few seconds after a fire erupted from the front of the it. Mohinder opened the door and grabbed Hiro to drag him out.

There was only a small distance between them and the city but Mohinder was too afraid to cross the distance with Hiro while they were being shot at. Hiro seemed clumsy and his reflexes were too slow even for normal standards. He suddenly grabbed Hiro and threw him into the city. Hiro landed on the dust rolling. Mohinder was about to run when he remembered Hiro's sword. He dove back into the car to retrieve the katana. He then followed by running across to where a Hiro had landed. Bullets flew by him as he bobbed and weaved. He finally reached the Tamasha site's fringes and grabbed Hiro as he ran into the city.

Amir began shouting out orders on a two way radio. "Make sure they do not escape! Kill the masked man but I want Hiro Nakamura alive!"

The part of the city Mohinder and Hiro were at seemed abandoned. It was empty except for a few people who didn't lived near the surrounding area. Mohinder chanced a look back and saw more men with guns appear. He saw a car parked by the side of the road and began desperately running for it.

He ducked behind the car just as a rain of bullets shot at where he had been seconds before. He laid the body that he had been carrying on over his shoulder on the ground.

"Hiro! You've got to teleport us out of here!" Mohinder said over the sounds of gunfire.

Hiro closed his eyes in intense concentration but as hard as he tried his mind could not focus enough for him to activate his ability.

"I still can't! They did something to me!" He mumbled something in Japanese.

Mohinder peeked from under the vehicle he was hiding behind and went back down just as bullets rained over his head. He had a katana sword in his hand but doubted it would do them much good at this distance against guns.

"They've got us pinned down, Hiro!" He said. "If you don't get us out, we'll die here."

Hiro closed his eyes again as a another volley of bullets hit the car. A bullet hit the fuel tank and the car exploded into a fiery blaze, killing anyone who had been near it.

_London _

Mohinder and Hiro suddenly appeared in an alley under the gloomy skies of London. Mohinder rolled on the ground to put out the fire that was on his jacket. He was able to put the fire out, though it did leave smoke and singed leather as proof of its brief existence.

Mohinder rushed over to Hiro who was now unconscious. The act of teleporting them away from danger must have taken a toll on him. Mohinder head a metallic ping and looked up. A gun was pointed to his face.

"Don't move." The man with the gun said.

Mohinder did a quick analysis of the situation in his head. The man was flanked by two other men. One was a white man with rosy cheeks like the gun man and the other was a black man. They all looked young, maybe in their early twenties.

Mohinder grabbed the gun causing a misfire just above his head. After the shot went off he wrenched the gun from him and pushed him back with one hand. The gunman flew a little before he hit the ground and rolled three times. Mohinder began to get up but the black man kicked his legs and forced him down again while the other one lunged at him with a knife. He was able to pull his head back, dodging the knife, and with his open back hand pushed the knife wielder into the concrete wall besides him. He instinctively reached for the Kensie sword that lied beside him. Mohinder swung at the place midway the knees and feet of the remaining black opponent. He made sure to use a minimum amount of his super strength. His attackers jeans were sliced but his skin seemed untouched and he did not even fall to the ground.

Taken by the surprise of his failed attack, Mohinder froze and looked up at the man. In his face was only calm as he kicked Mohinder in the head the same way a soccer player would kick a ball. Mohinder flew back onto the cold tar, then suddenly everything went black.

To be continued...


	3. A Good Politician

**Disclaimer Alert**

The characters originally appearing in the Heroes series (which is apparently coming back. Yay!), the comics books (which can no longer be found on the NBC website for some reason) and novel (yes, there is a novel but I haven't read it so... Meh!) belong to the Kring, Tim and the NBC (Most likely).

* * *

**Author's note**

My chapters are a bit too long. It gives the illusion that the pacing is slow or maybe it is slow... or maybe I'm just tripping. Well whatever the case I'm writing furiously so that I can finish off chapter 5 (nudge-nudge-wink-wink-follow-follow) so next time I can upload two chapters a week apart. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Heroes: Brave New World**

**Episode 3**

_Janice Parkman - Parkman family home _

Janice Parkman entered the dark basement of her home. She got onto her knees to look through a stack of boxes. There were four boxes packed, with two at the base and the other two on top of them. Beside the boxes was a sheet covering a piece of furniture.

She lifted one of the top boxes and and placed it on top of the furniture covered with this sheet. She began to unpack the contents of the box onto the sheet. Dust began to fly into the air from her effort. Janice was looking for a book on meditation and inner peace that she had once been given by a colleague. She had read two chapters of the book before she lost interest but she thought that Molly would appreciate it more than her. She wanted to give her the book as a peace offering.

While searching through the box she heard quick footsteps behind her. She turned so fast that the box came crashing down, dragging the sheet covering the furniture with it.

There was nothing there. She then jumped when she heard the sound of things falling down. Janice approached the source of the sound cautiously. "Molly?" She called out. There was no answer as she approached. "Matt?" She said still approaching the source, her heartbeat quickening with every step. There was a bunch of junk piled high up and behind it was where Janice thought that someone was hiding.

She looked around the corner of the pile of junk and there was no one there, just a few old pots and pans. Picking up one of the pots she noticed how clean and shiny its bottom was; unlike the other pots that were all grimy and dusty she could see the reflection of her face in this one, as if someone had been furiously polishing it. "Probably just rats." She reasoned softly to herself.

She walked back to where the box had toppled over. She saw that it was now partiality covered with big white papers. The papers had paintings on them. She looked closely at one of the paintings and noticed that she was in it. In the painting she was on her knees with Matt Parkman standing over her and they were staring at an empty crib in sadness.

She felt sick at the pit of her stomach. She picked up other such paintings from the floor. They showed a distraught Janice or Matt or both with things that belonged to Matt jnr.

She recalled Matt telling her that he could paint or draw the future. When he told her, she did not give it much thought but now she was forced to as she flipped through the disturbing pictures.

"Matt." She called out with a shaky voice.

A moment later Matt Parkman walked down into the basement. "Yes?"

Janice showed Matt one of the paintings, " Matt, when were you going to tell me about this?" She said shaking the painting.

"Uhm... I was still trying to figure it out. What they all mean."

"The meaning seems pretty clear to me." Janice said. "Matt junior is in danger..."

/

Molly walked into the kitchen. She saw Matt jnr. sitting on his special feeding chair; there was a small amount of food in front of him in a miniature plastic bowl. Matt jnr smiled when he saw her. Without a hint of emotion she approached him.

She stopped and opened the kitchen drawer at her side and produced a fork and began to approach Matt jnr. again with the fork in her hand.

/

"Who would want to harm our baby?" Janice asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Matt admitted. "But whoever it is, they won't. I'll protect him."

"How? When you don't know who you're protecting him from?" Janice said looking through the paintings for some kind of clue. She noticed something about all the paintings and hesitated to say it out loud.

"What?" Matt asked resisting the urge to read her mind to just find out.

"There is someone other than Matt who is missing in all these paintings... Molly."

/

Molly was now upon Matt jnr with the fork in her hands. She raised it up and... picked up Matt the baby's miniature plastic bowl and began to mix the contents with the fork.

She smiled at Matt jnr as she did this. "I do not know how you babies can eat this stuff. I guess I cannot call it soft anything because it has dried up." She added warm water to the pourage and began mixing it in. She found it strange that Matt and Janice would leave the baby for this amount of time.

She placed the bowl down and took Matt jnr into her arms as she walked around the house looking for his parents.

/

"I don't want to sound mean but you have seen that in all of the paintings both Molly and Matt are not there." Janice said.

"I know but it might not mean what you think it does." Matt argued. "It might mean that they are both in danger."

"Yes but Molly is a strong girl who has proven to be able to take care of herself, Matt on the other hand..."

"Yes, I know."

"She probably feels like she does not fit in and could be blaming Matt jnr for it." Janice reasoned. "I can relate on some level to how she may feel but maybe we should act more cautious about this. Send her away for a while, see what happens. Just in case she is the reason why Matt is in danger."

"She is going to be angry..."

"Angry could not describes how I feel." Molly said at the top of the flight of stairs.

Matt and Janice looked up at her with worried looks on their faces... she had their son in her hands.

"Now Molly..." Janice said in a quiet and scared voice.

"Do not talk to me." She straining to keep her voice leveled. "You think I would harm a baby?"

"Molly, this is not what you think it is." Matt said calmly. He had learnt how to keep his cool in stressful situations thanks to his police training. "Just give him to us..."

"Not what I think it is?" Molly said struggling to keep her tears back and her voice from shaking, however as if doing it for her Matt jnr began to cry. "It looks to me like your wife is poisoning you against me and you don't seem to even be resisting!"

"Listen to..." Janice began.

"I said don't talk to me."

"Molly." Matt said with his voice more firm. "_Give him to us._" He said the last part using his powers to push Molly's mind to obey him.

Molly began to automatically walk down the stairs and gave the baby to Matt who handed him over to her mother.

Molly shook her head to get her mind back her control. When she realised what Matt had done she ran up the stairs before the tears could flow down her face.

She got into her room and slammed the door shut. She quickly found her luggage bag that she had came with. Molly grabbed her dirty clothes and stuffed them into the bag and began to climb out of the window. She found it ironic that she had done this last night and was now repeating the process. She did not want to leave via the front door because she had lost trust in Matt, he could use his powers on her again. He used his powers on her because he did not trust her and because of that she could not trust him either.

She landed with a thud and jumped the wall before running into the street. Matt opened the door and saw too late, Molly running away in the street. As she ran away he read her mind. He watched helplessly as his adopted daughter disappeared down the street.

_Anita Rodriguez - The Asylum _

Anita Rodriguez walked down the hallway of the asylum to her psychiatrist's office. She was not alone, as she walked with a fellow inmate and friend.

"...so it said I was special and it could feel it in its bones." Anita recounted the events of the other night to her friend as they were walking.

"I don't know Anita. You're here because you were involved in a traumatic crime that you blame on yourself. And do you remember why you blamed it on yourself?"

"I said I caused it because I'm not like other people... I'm special."

"Yes. And then suddenly a voice that only you have heard tells you that you are special. If you don't want to book your room and board here for any longer I suggest you don't tell the shrink that and just treat this for what it truly is."

"What?" Anita asked.

"A figment of your imagination." Her friend said as they got to the office.

Anita went into the office while her friend waited outside for her turn. Anita sat down on a couch as the psychiatrist opened up a notebook.

"Hello Anita. Anything happen today that you want to tell about before we continue from where we left off last time?"

"No, sir. There is nothing I have to tell..."

_Mohinder Suresh - England_

Mohinder woke up on the floor. He reached for his throbbing head but found that one of his hands was zip tied to the frame of a bed. He looked at the zip tie like he was annoyed and snapped it off. He felt his forehead and found a small bump there. It was then that he remembered what had happened before he passed out. Hiro had successfully teleported them away from one danger straight into another but he was not dead so that was a good sign at least.

He got up and looked around the room. He found that he was the only one in there and began to worry about Hiro as his abilities seemed to fail him when he needed them the most. He walked to the door and placed his palms against it. He was about to push the door apart when he began to hesitate. He did not know what was on the other side of the door, he thought to himself. His kidnappers may be armed or have Hiro in a dangerous situation. He stayed still thinking of what his next move should be.

/

Outside the door four men sat around a table playing cards. Among them was the guy who had beaten Mohinder in the alleyway. He, unlike the people he was sitting with had dark skin as if to prove he was from originally another country. He silently stared at his cards and placed a bet. He could not help but steal a glance at the sword lying on the table. They could not decide amongst themselves who should keep it so they decided that they would play a single game of cards for it.

"So wha' we gonna do about our prisoners?" One of the men at the table asked un a strong accent. "I mean once they ge' up."

"We interrogate them . Find out what they are doing here." Another said.

"I don't think we should." Said the only black person at the table. His skin colour was not the only different thing about him from the other people around the table, he also spoke with a different accent that neither of his colleagues could place.

"It doesn't matter what you think, Valery." A fat man called Vida said as he also placed a bet. "You haven't been with us long enough to air your opinion."

The men showed their hands and the one who spoke against Valery won the game. Vida smiled at Valery's loss. He greedily pulled the money on the table and the katana towards him. He unsheathed a small amount of the sword's blade. There was a knock on the door. One of the men grumpily got up and opened the door.

"Kurt!" The man at the door said as Kurt pushed his way into the house.

"'Ello boys. So, where are these people you caught on our territory?" Kurt asked.

One of them pointed to the two doors at the end of the room. He walked to the door and Valery walked beside him.

"Have you found what I asked you for?" He asked.

Vida who had won the Kensie sword shouldered him out of the way. "Ask him questions later, now is not the time."

"I'll tell you after this." Kurt said when he reached the door.

Valery stood back a little to the side while Kurt stood directly in front of the door. The others stood a little closer to Kurt and another was beside Valery with space between Valeryand him. Kurt reached out and turned the door handle.

The door suddenly went flying out off its hinges. It sent Kurt flying and two other people who were unlucky enough to get caught in its path got knocked off their feet. The door flew just centimeters past Valery's face. Mohinder rushed out of the room sending anyone who was near him flying with well placed pushes.

Valery knew that the man making his way to him was not a normal man. He wondered if he was like his father, powerful, cruel, merciless and considered a god in Africa or was he like himself?

Mohinder swung at Valery but he side stepped the punch. Mohinder recovered quicker than his opponent had excepted and punched him before he could properly put his hands up to protect himself. Valery went flying through the room and crashed through a glass cabinet and into the wall. The glass cabinet cracked in half and all the drinking glasses inside were broken, when Valery smashed into the wall, cracks in the wall seemingly extended on it from his body had landed.

There was still another thug in the room but Mohinder stopped moving. He looked at the man he had just hit. With all the adrenaline he realised that he had never hit someone that hard before and was worried that he was dead. He felt a mixture of relief and mortification when the man got up and except for brushing off the dust and glass off of his shoulders, he did not look hurt.

The man got out a gun and aimed it at him and Vida who was the only other person left standing also took out his gun. Mohinder was in a bad spot. There was no way he could disarm them both without either of them getting a shot off. To his horror they both shot at him simultaneously. The bullets raced for him and suddenly stopped a few centimeters away from his face. Hiro got out of his room and saw the frozen scene before him.

He walked to the still Mohinder Suresh. "If I had stopped time a microsecond later Dr. Suresh would be dead. We're very lucky!" Hiro said to himself in Japanese. He grabbed his sword and grasped Mohinder's shoulder as his face clenched in concentration, then they both blinked out of existence.

The bullets that were heading for Mohinder's head passed harmlessly through the space that he had once occupied, into the walls, leaving a stunned Vida and Valery.

/

Hiro Nakamura and Mohinder Suresh appeared in the busy streets of India. It took some time for Mohinder to get his bearings, one moment he was in an apartment fighting thugs the next he was on a street filled with people on scooters and in cars. He looked to his side and saw Hiro smiling at him.

"Hello Dr. Suresh." Hiro said in English for Mohinder's sake.

"Hiro! You're okay!"

Hiro nodded then his stomach grumbled.

"Come. Let me treat you to some food." Mohinder said.

"Yay! Waffles!"

_Gabriel Grey - College _

Gabriel entered the near empty library. It was almost deserted except for a few students however, he was only interested in one. He walked to the back and sat beside a tall thin girl with curled hair. She looked up at him and exclaimed.

"Mr. Bennett! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed.

There were sounds of people hushing her which as a result, she immediately placed her hand over her mouth.

Gabriel had taken up the form of Noah Bennett to gain the trust of Gretchen Gilmore. He had once kidnapped her and threatened her life, even though he did not intend on going through with it but he doubted she would forgive him or even trust him. She only knew him as Sylar, the man he used to be, not Gabriel, the man he was now.

"I'm looking for Claire, can you help me?" He said perfectly mimicking Noah Bennett's voice.

"Is she missing?" She asked in a desperate whisper.

"Yes, that's why I have to find her."

"She gave me a number. Said if I ever was in trouble that I should call her."

"Good. Give me that number." Gabriel said calmly.

"I will but... on one condition. I'll have to go with you."

"What? No, this is dangerous stuff. I can't allow you to get involved."

"Claire is my friend and... I want to do what I can to help her. And anyways if you don't allow me to help you I'll try to find her alone and be in more danger."

Gabriel did not want to agree to this but if he was going to find and protect Claire like Peter asked him to, he would first need help in finding her. "Okay, Gretchen."

She nodded excitedly and closed her textbooks and placed them in her bag. "I think we should go outside, Mr. Bennett."

Gabriel nodded and led her outside of the college library. Once outside Gretchen made the call from her own cellphone. Her face turned into a frown as she heard the automatic response that told her that the number she had dialed was not available at present. She decided to leave a message.

"Claire this is Gretchen. I'm here with your dad whose looking for you. Where are you? Please call me when you can, bye."

"The number is not working?" Gabriel said as more of a statement. He was somewhat relieved, this meant that he could ditch Gretchen and work alone.

"Yes, Mr. Bennett but let me try something else." Gretchen said dialing another number. "Hello," she said into the phone. "My name is Gretchen and I've lost my phone can you help me find it by tracking it for me?"

She kept quiet as the person on the other end spoke. She then gave the operator a string of numbers.

"Okay thank you." Gretchen said then ended the call. "They gave me the area where the number was last active. So we can start looking there."

Gabriel could not help but be impressed by this girl's resourcefulness. He smiled as they headed out of the university.

_Noah Bennett and Lauren Gilmore - CIA headquarters_

However, the real Noah Bennett was with Lauren Gilmore at the secret headquarters of the CIA. Lauren was sitting down in front of a computer while Noah stood behind her. She typed on the keyboard.

"So, we're looking for bulletproof, black SUVs. How new did they look?" Lauren said.

"Shiny new." Noah said.

"Must have been bought recently. Luckily for us transactions like that don't usually go past the CIA, even if they are illegal and have no paper trail." A picture of a man appeared. "There! This man bought sixteen of such vehicles. And he has worked with various agencies in the areas of hunting down fugitives or enemies of the organisations that employ him. His practically a hunter for hire."

"Then let's pay him a visit."

_Peter Petreli and Tracy Strauss - New York _

"...I'm telling you Peter. You need a bodyguard in case Sylar attacks you again." Tracy told Peter as they were walking down the streets.

"There's no need. Sy... Gabriel won't attack me again." Peter said.

"You're too trusting, that's a bad quality in a politician. Okay, what if someone like him attacks?"

"I'm not weak, Tracy. I've survived a lot, I even survived last night."

"Only because I was there!"

A boy stepped in front of them. He was black and wore a t shirt too large for him and a straight cap. He smiled at Peter and Tracy. "Hello, Ms Strauss. Mr. Petreli." He said nodding to them.

"Hello," Peter greeted him. "Uhm... who are you?"

"This is your new bodyguard, Ricky." Tracy said. Peter was about to protest when Tracy cut him off. "Listen, Peter. You're reluctant to take up a useful ability, so it will be harder for you to defend yourself. Therefore I got you a bodyguard that I helped train myself."

"But you were able to help me last time." Peter said.

"Yes, that's heavy lifting work and I don't do heavy lifting. But Ricky here does." Tracy said. "Enjoy your meeting with Wilcox."

/

Wilcox was being driven to the meeting. His body was in the car but his mind was far away. He thought of another meeting he had had with a mysterious man in black that he had come to know well. The man's name or at least the name he went by was Tom Solver.

"We've found out about your little project, Wilcox." Tom Solver said standing over him.

Wilcox was seated and looked up at Solver. "That may be Agent Solver but I don't see why it is any concern of yours or Viral inc."

Solver's voice got dangerously low. "It is our concern because you are Viral inc.'s property. Whatever you do concern's us." Solver spoke in a normal tone again. "You are going to give us all the information about your little project."

Wilcox made a move to stand while he protested. "What? No, I..."

Solver slapped him across the cheek so hard that he was driven back to his seat by the shock. "You seem to forget your place, Wilcox. You are nothing more than a side effect that we tolerate. All you have, your career, your money, we have manufactured. So if you don't want a tragic end to all of it, you better behave. I'll be back tomorrow to collect the information. Is that clear?"

Wilcox rubbed his cheek and had to force himself to say yes. Wilcox began coughing profusely as Solver left. His desk was getting stained with droplets of blood as he looked for his handkerchief.

/

"Sir, we are almost there. Sir?" Macy's voice cut through Wilcox's thoughts and brought him back to the present.

"Oh. Thank you Macy." Wilcox said before he got out of the car.

Macy watched her boss sat at a table outside of the restaurant building. The sky was grey with clouds, it felt like the weather mimicked her boss' mood. Wilcox did his best to hide it but everytime he received a visit from the mysterious Solver or any of his associates, his usually happy outlook would be diluted in sadness and anxiety. All of his four Personal Assistants saw it but there was nothing they could do about it. He would just pretend to be his usual happy self and they pretended with him to spare his feelings.

Peter arrived with Ricky walking beside him. He sat down and Ricky continued to stand.

"Hello, Peter." Wilcox said with a big smile. "Uhm... Hello?" He said looking at Ricky.

"Oh!" Peter exclaimed. "This is Ricky, he's my..."

"Bodyguard." Ricky completed.

"Wow! They make them young these days!" Wilcox remarked.

"'Ey, I'm capable."

"Ricky, Mr. Wilcox and I need to speak in private."

"Bud I gotta be close to protect you, boss." Ricky said.

"It's okay. I'm also here with my assistant Macy. I don't like her standing. You two can sit at that table..." Wilcox said motioning to a nearby adjacent table. "That way Peter and I can speak privately and you can still have full view of your... 'boss'. And order anything you like, it's on me."

Ricky's face lit up. "That's kind of you." He went to sit at the table and Wilcox motioned Macy to join him.

When they could speak in private Wilcox continued. "So, how do you think your request for a partnership with the government going?"

Peter looked at him confused, "you tell me?"

Macy sat down with the young man with a straight cap. "Hello I'm Macy."

Ricky did not look at her as he was staring at Peter and Wilcox intently. "Yeah, hello." He automatically answered.

"Peter," Wilcox began. "I really want this thing of yours to work, but there are many people who don't, Gilbert Vikes for example."

Peter recalled Gilbert Vikes in his first meeting with the government representatives.

"So, do you have powers?" Macy asked Ricky.

"Yeah, I do. Don't ask what they are though." He answered looking at her for a moment. "It's a secret."

"I know that. I'll just have to change their minds." Peter said to Wilcox.

"Yes but some people don't want their minds changed. Look." Wilcox pushed a folder across the table to Peter. Peter opened the folder and studied it.

The waiter brought the food that Macy and Ricky had ordered. She had asked for a salad while he had asked for steak, chips, rolls and soda.

"Hmm!" he said looking at his food. He looked over to Macy's salad. "You know you can order proper food if you want. Your boss is paying."

"His pockets are going to be empty since you ordered a fountain, tower cake for desert." Macy said.

"He offered." Ricky said in-between mouthfuls of food.

"These are the names of people... like me." Peter said.

"Yes, at the back is Gilbert's counter offer to yours." Wilcox said.

Peter flipped to the back of the folder and his eyes went wide open with surprise. "He wants to move all the people with dangerous abilities to homelands. But if he wanted this all along why would he agree to sit in on my committee for my proposal of starting a company?"

"So that he can dispute your idea in front of the other members? So he can sway the vote against you?" Wilcox said. "A good politician only does what serves his own agenda. Even I, talking to you now serves my own personal agenda."

"Which is?" Peter asked.

Wilcox smiled at the question. "I wouldn't be a good politician if I told you." Wilcox got up and nodded at Macy. "Good luck Peter. I don't know what you're going to do with this information but breath easier knowing I'm on your side." He said as he left to go to the front desk to pay the bill.

Macy got up and said goodbye to Ricky before she followed her employer.

Peter looked at the folder unsure what to do.

_Mick Welch - San Diego_

Mick Welch sat watching tv while the two way radio sounded off. He was wearing a fine suit while he ate a hotdog. He heard a knock on the door. He got up and withdrew his gun. He pressed himself close to the door and looked through the eyehole. He saw a man with horn-rimmed glasses. No, he thought they almost look horn-rimmed but they weren't. "Who are you?" He suspiciously asked.

"Agent 232. I'm here for an emergency debriefing." Noah answered.

"Dam CIA types." Mick said under his breath. "I'm never working with them again." Welch opened the door and pointed the gun at Noah. "State your identification number!"

Welch was being careless and the man with the horn rimmed glasses grabbed his hand and tried to wrench his gun away from him. Welch showed his training by kicking the man in the stomach. Although the momentum of the kick pushed Noah back it also gave him enough force to completely break his hold on the gun. Before the man in the horn-rimmed glasses hit the floor he already had the gun pointed at Welch. Welch ducked down as he closed the door and locked it. He heard a few gunshots as he ran to the couch to retrieve his second firearm between the cushions.

Welch heard a 'BAM!' on the other side of the door. He noticed that 'horn-rimmed glasses' earlier shots were aimed at the door's lock pad. This means that he was not really aiming for him which in turn meant that he wanted him alive. Being wanted alive was not a particularly good thing for a man in his industry.

He heard three more 'BAMS' until the door gave way to "horn-rimmed glasses" charge. As Welch was retreating to another exit he got a shot out at his pursuer. The bullet sped across the air where Noah's head had been. His pursuer was good, he did not stay in one place long enough for Welch to take proper aim. The man in the horn-rimmed glasses also returned fire but his shot was a bad one as it did not even come close to Welch when it harmlessly embedded itself in the wall.

Welch got to the back door and opened it without effort. Had he not have been looking back for signs of his pursuer, he would have seen Lauren Gilmore's forearm which hit him in the face with even greater force because of his running momentum. Welch almost flipped in a 360 in mid air as he was knocked down with blood flowing out of his nose.

The man in the horn-rimmed glasses caught up to him and grabbed him roughly by the collars of his shirt and dragged him back into the house while Lauren followed them after she closed the door.

/

Noah threw the man in a chair then Lauren handcuffed him to it. He was glad that Lauren's plan worked. She had the idea of him driving Welch to the back door to avoid a big fire fight and give her a chance to ambush him.

"Alright, Welch..." Noah began. "We know someone hired you to gather people and resources to hunt down Claire Bennett. We'll let you live if you tell us who that someone is."

"Please, sir! I don't know what you're talking about." Welch lied.

Lauren had been looking around the place for tools. "So I guess he's not cooperating?"

Noah looks at her and says: "I guess not."

"Good, then it's my turn." Lauren said plugging in an electric drill she that she had found in the house.

Noah looked at Welch and said sorry. Welch began looking even more afraid. "Wait! What's she going to do?"

Noah bent down and whispered to Welch as if they were sharing a secret. "My partner here has always wanted to be a dentist. She's practically obsessed with it." Noah said as they both looked at Lauren fiddling with the power drill. "Whenever we come across people like you, she looks for every opportunity to... well, play dentist."

"Alright, I'm ready." Lauren said approaching the pair with the running power tool. "I'm sorry I don't have any anesthesia."

Welch shut his mouth tight and made sounds of horror in his throat. Lauren couldn't get his mouth open.

"Is this really necessary?" Noah asked Lauren sounding concerned.

"We agreed if he didn't talk," Lauren began. "I'd get to do this. He doesn't want to open his mouth, oh well! I guess I'll have to drill through the cheek to get to the teeth."

"Alright! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Welch desperately shouted out. "I... I don't know much about my employer but I can tell you that the person who hired me is a big politician type."

"Give us his name!" Noah said.

"I don't know he keeps his identity secret from me."

"That's not enough to stop my fun." Lauren said. "Now, open wide."

"I... I can tell you where his base of operations is."

Lauren turned off the machine. "Tell us."

/

Although Welch did not have the information Noah wanted, the location for the base of operations for whoever had hired him would be valuable.

"Too bad he didn't have the name of the guy who hired him." Lauren said as they left the house.

"But we'll find out whoever it is. Good job in there. Our bad cop, psycho cop act seems to have gotten better."

_Molly Walker - Los Angeles_

Molly waited sitting on the grass. She had closed her eyes to mediate and not let her emotions overwhelm her. She heard a sound that she had grown accustomed to during her time in Rebel, it was the sonic boom of a man flying, unaided, through the skies at great speed.

West dropped from the blue skies and landed on the green grasses some distance away from where Molly sat. The medium length grass rippled outward in response to his landing. Molly grabbed the bag that was beside her and got to her feet.

"You called me. Are you okay?" he asked approaching her.

"I am now." West was about to ask another question when she cut him off. "All you need to know is that it... it did not work out with the Parkmans. I'm no longer going to be living with them."

West noticed her bag with a hastily packed sleeve of an orange jacket sticking out of it. He laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head. "If you want me to fly to India, well... I..."

"No." Molly assured him. "Of course not. I just need somewhere to stay until I can get my things together and leave."

"I might know someone who can give you that," he said stretching his hand out to Molly. As soon as she held it he pulled her closer to him and with a big goofy smile said hold on before he blasted into the sky before she could respond.

_Peter, Tracy and Ricky - Washington DC_

Tracy Straus flipped through the folder that Peter had given her. "Wilcox was not lying." She said, "Vikes is making a counter offer to our own. A more intolerant counter offer might I say."

"He has already gathered some resources, men, weapons, even the locations of some people with powers." Peter said. "We need to do something. Our people aren't safe."

"What do you expect us to do? Storm into his headquarters and destroy everything?" Tracy asked. "And how do you know that Wilcox wants you to do something irrational? Maybe that's his plan?"

Peter had to admit that she had a point. He remembered what Wilcox had said: "_A good politician only does what serves his own agenda. Even me, talking to you now serves my own personal agenda." _Could his agenda be to see him fail. "Regardless, we can't risk these people's lives by doing nothing."

Tracy handed the folder back to him. "It's your choice but I wouldn't suggest it." She left Peter's apartment.

Peter sighed and threw the folder onto his coffee table as he sat down. He rubbed his temple while thinking of a plan. Should he destroy what Vikes had planned or should he let things play themselves out? He wished he could get a sign on what he should do.

"I'll help you boss." A voice said from behind.

Peter was caught off guard. He had forgotten that Ricky was in the room. "What?"

"If Ms. Straus won't help you, I will."

Peter smiled and nodded. He would go through with this and hopefully stop Gilbert Vikes.

_Janet and Matt Parkman - Parkman Home L.A_

Janet Parkman had just finished changing the babies diaper. She threw the diaper in the disposal bin before placing Matt jnr. back in his crib. She left the room to throw away the diapers . As she was walking downstairs Matt saw her as he was looking for the tv remote.

"What are you looking for?" Janice asked.

"The remote. My show is about to start."

It's probably in between the couch cushions."

Matt looked and he found it. "Great! You going to throw away the dudu bin?"

Janice nodded and adopted this sad look on her face.

Matt sighed and held out his hand and she gave it to him.

"Thank you honey!" She said before running back up the stairs.

When Janice Parkman reached her son's nursery, she was met with a most unsettling sight. Her son was lying peacefully in his crib and on the other side of the crib, some distance away there was a woman she had never seen before in the room. She was a thin, black woman with hair tightly braided to her head. She wore blue jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. She looked as surprised as Janice was.

They were both the same distance away from the crib with Matt jnr. in it. Watching the scene, no one would know who acted first and who reacted but they both ran for the crib. The mystery woman reached it seconds before Janice but Janice shoved the woman back away from her son. The woman stumbled back and it seemed as if she was going to crash into a mirror that had been hung on the wall. Instead of crashing into, Janice was surprised to see that she went through it... no, not through it but into it.

The woman's feet were the last thing to disappear into the mirror. Janice now had her baby in her arms as she looked into the mirror but instead of seeing only her reflection, she saw the woman looking back at her in the mirror! It became obvious to her that this woman was not normal, she was like her husband and son. As she turned to run out of the room she screamed for help. The woman seemingly moved out of sight in the mirror. Then suddenly a hand shot out of the reflective frame of the crib. The hand grabbed the baby and pulled. Janice struggled against the hand, the baby began crying as they struggled to obtain possession of the him.

The struggle was short but it felt like it took hours to Janice. The hand suddenly withdrew and disappeared back into the crib's reflective frame.

Janice did not realize that during the struggle her position had changed, she was now standing where the mystery woman had been when she first saw her. She could hear Matt racing up the stairs calling her name.

Janice suddenly heard someone behind her, in a distorted voice say: "I'm here."

She instinctively turned around and the mystery woman's torso came out of the mirror and snatched the still crying baby out of her arms.

Matt arrived in time to see his son being pulled into the mirror. The woman now had the baby in her arms in the mirror. Baby Parkman's cries came out distorted, like they were being heard through thick glass. Matt ran to his wife's side as she looked at her baby helplessly being held by another woman in a place she could not go.

"Matt, do something." She pleaded.

Janice did not know this but Matt had been trying to influence the kidnapper telepathically to give them their son back but it did not work since he arrived into the room. "_GIVE HIM BACK TO US!"_ He said putting all his power into the command but it still had no affect.

The woman moved out of the mirror frame and was now out of sight, leaving Matt and Janice helpless and alone.

_Amir Prakesh - India _

A service man knocked on Amir's door. He gave the command for him to come in.

"Sir, he's here." The service man said in Hindi, slightly bowing.

"Let him in." Amir said smiling. A man walked into the lavish study and stood before Amir. "I am glad you changed your mind about working for me, Dr. Suresh."

"I thought it was the right thing to do." Suresh said.

Amir held out his hand and Mohinder took it and they shook hands to cement their agreement.

To be continued...


	4. Whatever it Takes

**Disclaimer Alert**

The characters appearing in the Heroes series, web comics and novel do not belong to me. They belong to Tim Kring and the NBC

* * *

**Author's note**

London is in England right? I was starting to doubt it. I was thinking maybe it's in France but then I was like no France is in Paris or maybe London is Paris. My Geography is bad so forgive me for any geographical errors. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. Warning: it is longer than my other chapters

* * *

**Heroes: Brave New World**

**Episode 4**

_Micah Sanders - New York_

Micah heard a knock on the door. He got up from the couch to open it and found West and Molly waiting for him on the other side of the door.

"West... Molly... Hi." Micah greeted them while he moved aside to allow them to enter.

West came in first followed by Molly. "Hello, Micah," she said as she walked past him.

"Is Tracy around?" West asked.

"No, my aunt is not here." Micah said.

"Hey! Where's my... the recliner?" West asked longingly.

"Probably in Washington. My aunt is moving there. That was the only reason why I was able to convinced her to let you guys stay here for a while." Micah explained. "The lease for this apartment is going to end in three days time so she didn't mind you guys crashing here until then."

"Awe man, she's gonna kick you out on the streets!" West said.

"Technically no." Micah said. "I'll be moving back to Detroit and living with my other family."

"Well, I'm glad for you but I'm not staying with you guys."

"What?"

"Yeah, my parents would be too worried." West said. "They still think I'm in the neighborhood not a few cities away."

"Will you be able to fly safely at night?" Molly asked him as he was climbing out of the 6 storey high window.

"Probably not, but that's why I love flying at night." West said before he let himself fall out of the window.

A moment later Micah and Molly saw his body rise up past the window into the night sky.

"He can be so dramatic sometimes." Micah said trying to break the awkwardness that had already begun to build up with West's departure.

Molly stood in place unmoving. Micah could not read her emotions at all.

"Do you need me to take your bag?" He asked.

"No." Molly said still standing. She looked around the lavish apartment; she was not accustomed to such apartments as the last one she had stayed in was a small two bed room that she shared with Mohinder Suresh and Matt Parkman.

"West told me what happened over the phone." He said.

"Well, he should not have but considering he has been a good friend, I will not hold it against him."

Micah sat down on the couch and was relieved when Molly did the same.

"So, what is your aunt doing in Washington?" She asked him trying to change the subject.

"Knowing her, she's probably making enemies." Micah said smiling. They kept quiet for a while, until Micah broke the silence. "Are you... are you going to be okay? I mean with the whole Matt situation."

Molly sighed, although she understood that he was asking because he cared for her, she did not want to discuss the Parkmans, there were too many negative feelings there. Molly gulped down all the things she did not want to feel and answered his question, hoping it would be the last time they spoke of it. "I do not know, Micah, however I think this is for the best. Now that I am gone, they should be happier. I bet they are sitting around the dinning room table, eating, playing with the baby and sharing their time with each other, like a true loving family."

_Parkman family home - LA_

At the Parkman home; past the empty nursery; down the stairs; past the abandoned dinning room; down into the dimly lit basement and on the painting stand, lay a painting depicting an unconscious Matt Parkman who in the painting was laying on the floor among previously completed paintings, with blood trickling from his left nostril onto his upper lip and down his cheek.

The painter who painted the painting was in the same room as his creation. Yet, he was unconscious and laying on the floor among previously completed paintings, with blood trickling from his left nostril onto his upper lip and down his cheek.

Janice Parkman walked into the basement to find her husband on the floor. She placed the food she had brought him on the nearest flat surface and ran to him. She crouched down above his unmoving figure and was relieved to see his chest still rising and falling in time with his breathing.

"Matt. Matt." She called out to him as she gently shook him awake.

Matt's eyes slowly opened. It took some time for his sight to adjust to the dimly lit basement. He got up to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes.

"Are you okay." Janice asked him.

"Yes, using my powers for clairvoyance is taking a lot from me." He answered.

He got up and looked at his latest piece. His heart sank when he saw it. He grabbed and threw it to the floor with his other paintings. In his pursuit to find some clue about where his kidnapped son may be, using his future seeing ability, he had drawn many terrifying and confusing images of people he knew and did not.

There was a painting of Claire Bennett strapped to a bulky silver chair with a terrified look on her face. There was another picture of Noah Bennett falling back, covered in bullet wholes as he is being repeatedly shot by two gunmen. There was an image of Ando laying face down on a heavily cracked pavement with bruises on his face and blood coming out of his mouth. There were people he had painted that he did not know. There was a big Indian man who stood with his arms crossed. In addition to that, he had drawn a woman who was seemingly being attacked by a man in uniform, the name tag on the uniform was 'Brent'. Also, there was a picture of an Indian child chained to his bed. He had also drawn many images involving dogs or packs of them. At first he thought they were random dogs but later he noticed most of the dogs appeared more than once in different pictures.

As he saw his latest creation fall to the ground he wondered if his friends and allies would be okay. He wanted to help them, at least warn them of the coming dangers but he couldn't. His duty as a father outweighed his duty as an ally or friend.

"I didn't even know that your powers could hurt you." Janice said. "If its too much then maybe..."

"No," Matt said cutting her off. "I will find him, Janice, whatever it takes. I promise..." He closed his eyes and when he opened them again they were devoid of pupils making them completely white. "...I will find him."

That was the last thing he said before he dipped a paintbrush into orange paint and began painting on the white canvas.

_Gabriel Grey and Gretchen Berg - San Diego_

A taxi stopped in front of an entrance of a block of flats. Out of the taxi Noah Bennett and Gretchen Berg came. Noah looked up at the block of flats.

"This is where Claire's mobile phone was last active." Gretchen said. "Hopefully, she's still here."

Noah nodded as he led the way into the building. He went to the receptionist desk.

"Oh, it's you again. Come back for another stay?" The male receptionist said to Noah.

Noah and Gretchen exchanged glances of confusion. "No, I'm looking for someone. Girl... about this high with blonde hair." Noah said describing Claire.

"Uhm... Your daughter?" The receptionist asked in a confused tone of voice.

"Yes," Gretchen said.

"The last time I saw her was when she left with you when you two checked out." The receptionist said. "Do you guys think she still might be here?"

"We'd like to check, if it's not too much trouble." Noah said. "Uhm, what room did we stay in again?"

/

Noah and Gretchen found themselves in an elevator together. There were a few questions Gretchen had for Noah, things she needed answers to.

"So, you and Claire were here before?" She asked narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yes, we were." He said. "It was before we got separated."

Gretchen did not completely buy it. First of all, she told him where they were going and he did not mention that he and Claire had previously been there. Secondly, the receptionist knew him and Claire but at first, Noah seemed not to know him. It was all beginning to look suspicious. Gretchen reached into her bag and grasped the pocket knife she carried with her. After being attacked by an invisible psycho serial killer and being threatened by another psycho serial killer called Sylar, she could not be too safe.

"How did you two get separated?" Gretchen pressed.

The lift came to a stop and the doors slid open.

"We've arrived." Noah said, rushing outside.

Gretchen followed close behind. Looking at the apartment numbers, she found the right apartment first.

"I found it." She said. She tried to open the door and found it locked. "It's locked."

"Here, let me." Noah placed his body against the door. Gretchen could not see what he did but she heard the telltale sound of a lock opening. Noah smiled at her as he pushed the door open. "A little handy trick I learned."

They stepped inside into the empty apartment. It was small, with dim colours.

"Wow! This place is tiny. I don't know how you two managed Mr. Bennett." She said. Gretchen could not see Claire living here; it seemed beneath her. Gretchen imagined Claire in a lavish palace with dedicated half dressed servants fanning her with palm tree leaves and her wearing the finest silks. What completed the vision was Gretchen there by her side.

"Looks like she didn't come back here." Noah said cutting in through her daydream.

"Oh yeah!" She said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Suddenly two men entered the room and shut the door behind them. Noah and Gretchen looked at them with confused looks on their faces.

"Who are you guys?" Gretchen asked the newcomers.

"We could ask you the same thing." One of them said as they both took out guns with silencers at the tips and pointed them at Gretchen and Noah.

"This is the Target's father." The other man said to his partner. "Tell us where Claire Bennett is?"

"That's what we want to know." Noah said. "Head for the room behind us and close the door." He said talking to Gretchen.

"What? I don't want to leave you here with these two."

"You don't have a gun," he said reaching for something under his jacket at his hip. "And you don't look like you can dodge bullets. Now go!"

Gretchen nodded and began to turn around.

"Don't move!" One of the gunmen said.

Gretchen stood completely still and looked to Noah for direction. Noah did not even look at her when he shouted it out. "Go! Run!"

Gretchen began running for the room. Shots began to go off and she could hear the bullets hit things around her. From the corner of her eye, Gretchen saw Noah fall down. She covered her head with her arms and when she reached the door of the other room which, turned out to be the bathroom, she pulled the door closed behind her. Covering her head she crouched down on the white tiles.

/

Noah Bennett fell to the floor with his back resting on a piece of furniture. For a moment the gunmen stopped firing as he was on the floor seemingly dead.

Suddenly his eyes opened and Noah Bennett's figure began to change, began to disappear. His hair became longer and his figure, slightly thinner and his complexion became paler. Noah Bennett was gone and in his place was Gabriel Grey.

Using his telekinesis, Gabriel disarmed the gunmen. The former gunmen were shocked to see their weapons fly off. They turned to run away but were each stunned by a shock of electricity running up their spines.

Gabriel moved a large cabinet in front of the door of the room that Gretchen had ran into. He did not want to risk her getting out and discovering him without his Noah-guise.

He picked one of the immobilized men off the ground with his power and placed him on a chair. "Wake up. I have a few questions to ask you?"

The man woke up with Gabriel looking at him. "You're... you're one of them but intel said..."

"Intel was wrong. It seems like you don't know where Claire is but maybe I could take out whoever is putting her in danger." Gabriel said. "Your obviously here to capture Claire Bennett but why and for whom?"

"For the government." The man said.

Gabriel felt the familiar tingling feeling he got when someone lied. He sighed; he did not want to resort to his old measures to obtain information. He wished he had another way to extract it. His powers only seemed to hurt him and others, he thought to himself.

No, Peter gave him this mission because he believed in him. Peter believed that he could find and protect Claire. He must believe that he can use his powers for good. In his pursuit to be a better person, he had come to think of his powers as a curse but maybe he could change that. Peter had always seen his own powers as a gift like Sylar had and he was still a good person. Why could Gabriel not do the same?

He instinctively used his original ability, which allowed him not only to take other people's powers but to also understand them and use them better than the original owners. His empathy ability could not be switched off. It allowed, or more accurately forced him to feel and share the emotions and feelings of others. It also gives him the ability to look into the psyche of others, allowing him to discover their deepest desires and fears. If he could use this ability in tandem with his lie- detector ability, he would be able to find out what people were trying to hide from him without needing to hurt him.

Gabriel clutched the hand of the man sitting before him. He was a little reluctant to go into this man's psyche because all he had ever felt when he actively used his empathy ability was fear of him or hate of him. He reached into the mind of the man and was not surprised when he felt fear.

The man's fear began to increase. "Look, I'm telling you the truth. I work for the government."

Gabriel got the tingling feeling again. The lie-detector ability helped him distinguish between the things that he felt that were true or false to his needs. He felt that the man did not know exactly who his employer was but he knew where they were to take Claire if they ever did find and capture her. He could see the location in his mind. Gabriel exited the man's psyche.

"That felt like an invasion of privacy." The man said.

"It was." Gabriel said smiling evilly. "Here, take a little nap." Gabriel said as he placed two fingers on his neck and sent a pulse of electricity up his neck making him pass out.

Gabriel got up and his smile endured. He was no Matt Parkman but by combining both of his abilities, he could read minds almost as accurately as any telepath and maybe even do more.

Gabriel walked around the room. He touched the surfaces of items in hopes of getting a vision of the past using another previously acquired ability. There was a wooden table in the kitchen. He placed his hand on top of it and his mind was transported to the past. He saw Claire and Noah sitting at the table opposite each other.

In the vision Noah leaned back on his chair. "Go ahead."

Claire smiled and narrowed her eyes at her father. "You don't seem to trust me, dad."

"It's not that I don't trust you, I just don't want to get shot in the eye... again." He said smiling.

"So, a bullet is stuck in the chamber, jamming the gun." Claire said.

"Yes but how do you fix it?"

Claire pointed the gun down at the table and pulled the top back twice in quick succession. A bullet popped out of the chamber and landed on the table.

Noah smiled. "Good. Now can we please get to bed. We have an early morning tomorrow."

"When are you going to teach me how to disassemble and assemble a gun?"

Noah got up and began washing the dishes. "Well, that skill is not important to you now."

"But it's so cool!" Claire said. She got up and joined him at the kitchen sink. "I'll do the dishes."

Noah smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you." He said walking out of the room.

The vision ended and Gabriel was back in the kitchen in present time. He walked out of the kitchen to the living room. He touched the couch that was there and had another vision. He saw Noah sitting down and taking out something from his jacket pocket. It was a plane ticket to England. The vision suddenly ended.

He smiled. Well done Noah, he thought to himself.

/

Gretchen heard a sound on the other side of the door. She was unaccustomed to staying still and quiet for so long. There had been gunfire and then silence. Was Noah still alive or were those criminals preparing to come in? Whatever the case, she'd be ready.

She got up from the floor and withdrew her pocket knife. Using both hands she flipped the blade out and held it in front of her, ready to strike.

The door opened and revealed Noah standing there. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I feel like I should be asking you that, Mr. Bennett." She said walking out of the room. She saw the two gunmen lying on the floor. "Wow, you took care of them on your own! So were you able to get any information on Claire."

"Yes but first lets get out of here before more of them show up."

Gretchen nodded as she lead the way out of the apartment. She still held the knife although hidden from his sight. Her trust in Claire's father was beginning to waver. She could have sworn that she saw him getting shot and yet his clothes had no bullet holes and no blood stains.

_Ando and Kimiko - Hong Kong airport_

Ando and Kimiko walked to the terminal entrance.

"I guess this is where we say goodbye." Ando said in Japanese, putting down his luggage bag.

Kimiko hugged him tightly. "I still wish you wouldn't have to go. Find Hiro as soon as possible, so that I can kill him."

Ando nodded loving the feeling of his fiancé's arms around him. He felt guilty for not telling her everything about him and her brother. He wanted to do it earlier but had lost his nerve. He smiled at her and picked up his bag. He turned around and began walking away from her. However, no less than five steps he dropped his bag and turned around. He walked back to her. He had decided that he would no longer keep any secrets from her; he loved her too much to do that.

"Kimiko, I need to tell you something." He said.

Kimiko looked confused. "Yes?"

"Your brother and I are not normal."

"I know you guys are not normal. You like doing strange things." Kimiko said smiling.

"No, you don't understand. Do you remember that video that showed an American girl jump off a tower and survive without a scratch?"

"Yes, some people said it was faked."

"It wasn't. People like that exist and your brother and I are one of them."

"I know." She said.

"I'm sorry we didn't... Wait, did you say you know."

"Yes, I figured it out. I'm not a complete idiot you know."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I wanted you and him to trust me enough to tell me." Kimiko said. "You two keep so many secrets amongst yourselves so I..."

Ando cut her off with a kiss. Although she was surprised, she decided to go with it.

When their lips parted Ando began to speak again. "I'm sorry I made you feel that way." He said softly with his face only inches away from her's. "We kept things from you not because we did not trust you. It was because we did not want to put you in any danger. But I promise, from now on I will tell you everything."

Kimiko nodded.

Ando walked backwards towards his luggage. "I'll see you later. I love you."

"I love you too." Kimiko said as Ando left for America.

_Mohinder Suresh - India_

Mohinder Suresh was looking over a woman. She was dark tall and Indian and was lying down on a bed with the back rest of the bed raised. She wore a hospital robe.

"Are you Priya?" He asked the woman.

"Yes, you must be Dr. Suresh." Priya said. "What are you going to do to me."

"I'm just going to collect a little blood and tissue samples." He assured her as he placed the statoscope against her chest.

"But I... I'm afraid of needles."

"Then this is the time to conquer your fears." Someone behind Mohinder said.

Mohinder did not need to look back to know who it was. Amir Prakesh had a strong presence and not only because of his size. Mohinder noticed Priya tense up. Her heart rate sped up and her breaths became shorter. Clearly, Prakesh made her uneasy.

"Allow me to show you something, Doctor." Amir said to Mohinder. "Priya, you can go now. You'll continue this later."

Priya nodded and and left them. Mohinder walked with Prakesh until they reached the laboratory. There, there were other employees of Prakesh who acknowledged him by nodding. He stood taller and bigger than anyone else in the laboratory. He eventually led Mohinder to a table with different vials that had crimson coloured liquid in them. Prakesh handed Mohinder one of the vials.

"What is this?" Mohinder asked.

"That, Dr. Suresh, is one of the many achievements that we have achieved." Prakesh said. "If that formula is injected into the bloodstream or even taken orally, it will fog the mind within seconds."

Mohinder looked at the liquid in the little vial. This must be what they had used on Hiro. "This is... amazing!"

"Yes but it has its limits." Prakesh said. "Although it is a way to neutralize potentially dangerous abilities, it is not a solution for every one. It assumes that someone has to concentrate to use their abilities. What if we come across someone who possess an ability that does not need concentration? Like someone who may have super strength."

Mohinder tensed up much like Priya did when Prakesh used his power as an example. Did Prakesh know about his abilities? Is this some kind of game his playing with him? Waiting for him to slip up so that he can imprison him like the other people with abilities?

"I want you to help us to develop a formula that will suppress their powers."

Mohinder looked at the vial. He had to admit to himself, he wondered if he could make such a formula.

A servant came and whispered in Prakesh's ear. He nodded and with a flick of his hand Prakesh dismissed the servant. "Excuse me Dr. Suresh. I have other business to attend to." With that Prakesh left Mohinder to his thoughts.

/

A black woman was standing alone in a circular room. The room had a shallow pit at its center and at the circumference of the pit were steel bars forming railings. Leaning on the railings was a woman. She had a dark skin tone and her hair was plated back. She looked down at the pit with her hazel eyes at the pit's occupants. There were a pack of dogs in there. She even knew exactly how many dogs there were. There were exactly 23 dogs.

Amir Prakesh walked into the circular room and joined her. "I see your back Lwando. I'm glad your mission was a success."

"Yes, it was." She said with contempt. "But nothing has changed here. You haven't done what you said you do."

"It will be done. Don't worry." Amir assured her.

"No! I can't believe you!" She raised her voice. "I did very bad things! I stole a baby from the mother's arms! And all you do is make promises...!"

Amir grabbed her by the throat pushed her against the railings. Her legs dangled in the air as her hands tried went to her throat trying to pry his big hand off her it. The dogs in the pit began barking at the spectacle. Some jumped up to where Lwando was hanging over the rails. "Look at them, its as if they don't even recognize you. I bet if I threw you over right now they would tear you apart." He said to her nastily.

Lwando, while struggling for breath, looked down at the excited pack of dogs. Amir was right, the dogs didn't seem to recognize her.

"Go ahead." Amir said. "Go into railings with your powers."

"I... can't..." She said with her last breaths of air.

Amir leaned closer to her face. "You see, Lwando, everyone has their limits, even people like you. But I suggest you don't test mine because you'll find me far reaching." With that Amir let her go and she fell on the floor choking in fresh air. "I will attempt to do all I can to help him. I am a man of my word." He said as he walked away leaving Lwando on the floor rubbing her neck.

_Noah and Lauren - Stanton _

Lauren walked to the entrance of the building. Inside there were gates that can only be passed through with a security card. On the side of the gates was a desk with two security guards.

Lauren nodded and smiled at the security guards. She swiped her card and was relieved when the gates swung open, letting her through.

She walked into the building and casually placed her hand over her ear. "I'm in." She said quietly.

"Good. I'll be monitoring your progress." Noah said over their radio communication. He had been sitting in a building adjacent to the one Lauren had just infiltrated. He wanted to go in her place but she had pointed out to him that his face is most likely known to the employees of the building.

Lauren got to an elevator and pressed a button to make it climb up a few floors. She and Noah had formulated a plan to get into the building and disable whatever operation was going on there and find out who was the mastermind behind it. The lift doors opened and she leisurely walked to a room that housed multiple computers. The room was populated by a few people who were staring intently at their computer screens. She walked passed them and found an empty computer as far away from anyone else as possible.

She sat down and began furiously typing. "I think I've found the guy whose running this show." She said to her ear piece.

"Who is it?" He asked excitedly. Finally this was about to come to an end.

"Gilbert Vikes. Ever heard of him?"

"Yes. He's a big politic type."

"That's strange..."

"What?" He asked worryingly.

"According to the information I'm getting, Vikes' project isn't operational yet and although Claire is in their system; they're not actively pursuing her."

"That doesn't make sense." He said. "Maybe hunting Claire is an off the record kind of operation."

"Maybe. But they do seem to be monitoring something called Mainframe's Invitation."

"Mainframe's Invitation? What's that?"

"I don't know but specials seem to be getting it. The program they have here monitors it and once anyone gets it, they're details are captured on the system."

Noah began to hear her typing pick up speed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm no IT whizz, so I can't access their database and delete Claire and anyone else from it but I can cause their Mainframe's Invitation monitoring software to crash." She said while typing in codes. "There, all done."

"What's done?" Someone said from behind her. "And what are you doing at my computer?"

Lauren turned around to see a man in white shirt standing over her. She inwardly cursed at herself. Bragging about her achievements while on the job was a rookie move and she was no rookie. "I'm sorry, I was just getting done with checking my emails. I'll leave now." She got up and left before the man could ask anymore questions.

The man looked at Lauren as she left. He picked up a phone that was located beside his computer. "Hello security? There's a blonde female that just walked out of the Command and Information center. Could you check her out?"

As Lauren walked she saw a man heading for her direction. He spoke into a radio as he stared and walked directly to her. She quickly turned into a corner to avoid him but the man was persistent as Lauren could still feel him following her. She took three more corners and climbed down a flight of stairs in an attempt to lose him, which she eventually did, or so she thought.

"Are you exiting the building?" Noah asked with concern.

"Yes, I just had to lose someone who was tailing me." As Lauren walked he saw the man again and he saw her and turned to her direction. She turned into a corridor. "His found me again. I'm going to try and lose him." But the corridor was straight with no other visible detour paths. She saw the ladies room and quickly entered it. She hoped that the man would just pass by. However, she was disappointed when he entered the bathroom.

"Hey, you can't be in here!" She said.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I have to check your credentials. May I please see your security card." He said holding out his hand.

Lauren reluctantly gave him her security card which was not really hers. Noah and her had stolen it from a guy who they had seen exit the building.

The man took out his radio. "Security, check this ID out for me." He called out a string of numbers that he read from the card to the radio. He listened to the reply on the other side. He looked at Lauren with a serious look and took out his handcuffs. "This card was reported missing. You are coming with me." He said this as he approached her with the handcuffs.

In one quick move Lauren kicked the cuffs away. The man lunged at her, knocking her into a cubicle door. He grabbed her by the collars to keep her pinned.

"Who are you?" He shouted.

"I'm the girl whose going to kick you in the nuts." She answered.

"What?"

Suddenly he felt pain spread to his abdomen as Lauren's knee made contact with his groin. The man bent over in pain. She used the opportunity to grab his head and shove against the wall that divided the toilet cubicles. The man fell to the floor unconscious.

"I've dealt with him, so don't come here to rescue me with our whole arsenal." Lauren said into the ear piece.

"I was not about to do that. I know you can handle yourself." He said this as put the three pistols, shotgun and ak47 that he had armed himself with during the fight on a nearby desk.

"Yeah right." She said not believing him.

"Get out of there now. You've done enough."

She quickly left the bathroom as she wanted to leave the building before the situation got worse. She had no doubt that the security card that she and Noah had stolen would not work now.

She got to the security gates, took out a card and swiped. The doors automatically swung open allowing her to pass and in seconds she was out of the building. She took out the security card that belonged to the unconscious security guard that she left in the bathroom and threw it in the nearest bin and smiled to herself.

_Matt Parkman - Parkman Family Home LA_

Matt came out of his trance again. He looked at the new paintings he had painted. They were all placed on top of one another on the painting stand. He removed them off the stand the same way one would remove the pages of a calendar. With every page he removed he became more frustrated. The paintings did not show what he wanted to see. They depicted people or things he did not know and some, once again, showed a pack of dogs. These dogs seemed to be the one constant thing in all his attempts. He had painted at least two paintings of dogs in each one of his attempts. He removed another painting only to discover another dog painting underneath. As far as he could tell there was still one painting left under the new dog painting.

He sighed knowing he would be disappointed. He was about to remove it when his stomach called for his attention. He looked around the room and was surprised to find a sandwich waiting for him. He smiled and made a mental note to thank his wife.

Matt sat down and enjoyed his snack. He felt a little guilty because his son was missing and yet, although his presence greatly saddened him, he could still find simple happiness in his sandwich. When he was done eating he began to think of other ways to find his son because his current method was not working. Maybe he should involve the police. People with abilities were no longer a secret, so they would probably believe a woman came out of the mirror and took their son. He decided that they would have to take their chances. He began walking up the stairs to tell his wife his plan when he remembered that he still had not seen the last painting under the dog painting.

He looked back at it asking himself if he should even go through the trouble. He sighed and walked back to the painting stand. He removed the dog painting and saw one of the most important paintings he had ever done. The painting showed three teenage kids walking in a recognizable area. Two of the teenagers were boys. One was tall and had an ice cream in his hand and the other boy was shorter and unlike the other two teenagers, he did not have ice cream. In the middle of these two boys was a girl with a bright orange jacket. The girl was Molly Walker.

That is when Matt realised that his adopted daughter could help him find his son.

_Valery - England_

Valery stepped into the hospital room and found Kurt lying on the bed. Upon seeing him, Kurt quickly stood up to a sitting position.

"Val, you came. Thank you." Kurt said.

Valery did not understand why Kurt was thanking him as if he suspected that he would not come. Valery still needed something from him. "Did you find what I was looking for?" He asked him.

"Why do you always say it like that? Like I was helping you look for a thing when in fact I'm helping you look for a person."

"It is best if I don't get attached to him by thinking of him as a person. Because I might need to..." Valery hesitated.

"Kill him?" Kurt offered even though he could not believe it.

Valery nodded.

"You are hardcore." When Kurt met Valery, he had just come from America and was looking for someone. According to him, he is originally from Africa but has traveled half the world looking for that particular person and he was willing to do anything to find him, even join Kurt's gang. He was hoping to use Valery's want to find this man to his advantage. "I have found him but I need you to do something for me before I tell you where he is."

Valery was not surprised. At least he was closer to his goal than ever so one last job for Kurt wouldn't hurt. He nodded again to tell Kurt to go on.

"The doctors say my spine is bruised..."

He nodded again. It made sense, since Kurt was hit full on with the door when they had the super strong Indian and the meek looking Asian as prisoners. They were still confused how they had escaped. One moment they were fighting with the Indian the next they were both gone.

"Anyways, the doctors say I won't be walking for a while, until it's healed." He said feeling a little emotional. "Vida will try to get rid of me to take over the gang. No one is answering my calls that's how I know he's already turned the gang against me."

Valery kept quiet and his expression remained neutral.

"But I still have an ace up my sleeve." Kurt said with a smile. "One of the people I do business with will help me if he thinks our business arrangement will be in danger if I die. But he needs to believe that I can still keep my end of the business arrangement, that is where you come in. I need you to deliver a bag that's under the left side of my bed at my house at my apartment to my business partner. When you deliver it tell him that I need Vida dead if our arrangement is to continue."

"Then you'll tell me what I need to know?"

"Yes."

Valery left Kurt's hospital room after Kurt gave him the details of where to deliver the bag and to whom. This would be the last thing he did for these people and if Kurt was lying about having what he wanted, he would no longer need to worry about Vida because he would kill Kurt himself.

/

Valery eventually got to Kurt's place. A light drizzle had already begun which made him hug his jacket closer to himself. He entered the house and went straight for the bedroom. When he entered the bedroom he heard the sounds of a car pulling up in front of the house.

Valery peeled the curtain back and looked through the window and saw Vida and some other guys exiting the vehicle. He closed the curtains before they saw him. He felt for his gun at his back to reassure himself that he could take them on if he needed to. He looked under the bed and found the bag just like Kurt said he would.

He quickly took the bag and crept to the back door. He would try to avoid a confrontation if he could. While getting to the back door, he heard them opening the front one. He opened the door to find one of Vida's men standing there.

The guy pointed his gun at him. Valery did not move even though the gunman stepped slowly forward. "Valery? What are you doing here?"

The gunman looked at the bag in his grasp. He took the opportunity and lunged for the gun. Valery was able to grab the gun before it went off. He tackled the gun man to the floor as his partners came rushing in. He put the bag over his shoulder. When they saw Valery on top of their friend they opened fire. Valery drew his own gun and added it to the fire power of the one he had just taken from the first gunman.

He stood to his full height and began firing back with both his guns. He saw Vida hiding behind a wall firing at him. Valery counted at least five guys firing at him not including the one who he had taken out of the fight.

He retreated shooting back at them. He turned his back and ran away once he was safely away from the path of the gunfire. They rushed out ready to give chase but found that Valery had already disappeared into the drizzle.

_Anita Rodriguez - Ohio Vows Asylum_

"Anita. Anita. Anita!" The voice called out her name.

Anita tried to ignore it. "It's only in my imagination; it's only in my imagination," she kept repeating to herself in Latin.

"Anita, are you still there?" The voice asked.

It was getting on her last nerve. "Be quiet!" She screamed at the walls.

"What's happened? Have they poisoned you against me?" The Voice asked.

"They? They have done nothing." She said to the walls. "You are the one who's making me crazy!" She regretted arguing with the voice because it proved that her mind was reaching its breaking point and she was only further feeding her madness.

"This place is making you crazy." The voice assured her. "You, nor I, don't deserve to be here and if we don't get out, we'll both go mad."

Yes, the voice was right. Before she came to the Asylum she had never questioned her sanity. Before they put her here she knew the difference between what was real and what was not.

"We need to get out of here before things get worse." The voice said. "Are you willing to do anything to get out?"

She thought about the voice's question. "Yes." She said to the walls of her room.

"Good, then do everything I'm about to tell you..."

_Gretchen - San Diego _

Gretchen woke up to sounds coming out of her bedroom. She and Noah had decided to stay the night at a hotel instead of driving back. Noah had decided to sleep on the couch and let her get the bed.

However the sounds coming from beyond her room disturbed her once peaceful sleep. She opened her door quietly and saw Noah sneaking, or better yet unsuccessfully sneaking around in the fading dark.

He had his back turned to her room but then he suddenly stood still. He did not look back and yet Gretchen felt like he knew she was awake.

"Mr. Bennett? What are you doing?"

He sighed and turned to look at her. "I'm sorry Gretchen. I'm leaving."

"What about finding Claire?" She said walking towards him.

"I'll still be doing that but alone. I'm sorry."

"What about our agreement?"

"I'm breaking it. Yesterday only proved to me that I made a big mistake by allowing you to come with me on this. It's too dangerous and I work better alone."

Gretchen was about to say something when he cut her off.

"There's nothing you can say to change my mind." He said putting his hand up. He turned to walk out of the door.

"Wait!" She called out running to him.

He turned around just in time to receive a hug from her. The hug went on for longer than he had excepted. Then things got more awkward when her hands shifted down his back. He was afraid that she was going to grab some but he was relieved when she stopped at his hip. He was not sure what to do; he did not want to hurt her feelings.

Gretchen realised how strange what she was doing seemed and to add to that she was hugging Claire's father and since she had just got out of bed she hardly had any clothes on. She retreated from the hug with her face turning a shade of red.

She crossed her arms across her body self-consciously and looked to at the floor. "Good luck Mr. Bennett."

He nodded and walked out of the door.

/

Gabriel left the apartment just as the sun was rising. He tried to shake off the awkward hug Gretchen had given him. She was a good girl and a likable person, that is why he did not want to place her in anymore danger for his own ends.

As soon as he was far away from the apartment he began to change back to his own form. He was relieved to be back in his own body. It was like coming back home.

He walked a bit faster than launched into the brightening morning sky.

If only he had looked back at the bottom of his jacket he would have seen the tracker that Gretchen had placed on him during her 'hug' with Noah Bennett.

_Valery - England _

Valery was walking through the streets with the bag around his shoulders. The drizzle of that day had finally stopped and had opened up the blue sky. He felt good for a while. This city was not accustomed to clear weather and instead of being too hot like it was in Africa, it was cool here. It made him feel at peace, a feeling he was not used to.

As he walked he saw a woman with blonde hair. He had seen many blonde haired women in his travels but thanks to his good mood and the sun shining off the golden hair, its beauty was multiplied. He noticed that the blonde was walking next to someone. He was tall, dark with no hair. They looked like an odd couple walking together.

His feeling of peace was instantly destroyed when the blonde's companion turned to look at her and he realised that he recognized the face. He searched into his jacket pocket and produced a picture. The picture was old but this was the man he had traversed half the world to find.

Valery quickened his pace to catch up to them. He tapped the man on the shoulder and he turned. The man's blonde friend also turned to look at who had stopped their progress.

"René." Valery said to the man.

Claire looked at René then at Valery. "Do you know this guy?" She asked René.

René had a confused look on his face. "No."

Valery's phone began to ring. He answered it quickly.

"Val," Kurt said on the other side of the line. "Did you get it?"

"Yes." He answered back.

"Good. How far are you in delivering it."

"I'm not going to." Valery said still looking at René.

"What? Did Vida get to you? It does not matter because if you don't deliver I won't tell you where to find your guy. Remember?"

The phone suddenly went dead. Valery had hung up.

"Val? Val! Vaaaaaal!" Kurt tried to phone him again but couldn't reach him and that is when he knew he was a dead man.

Valery placed his phone in his pocket after switching it off. "You don't know me but I know you." He said to René. "You had a brother in Haiti that you killed. He was my father; I am your nephew and I have gone to Haiti, America and finally here in England to find you."

Claire was shocked. René had actually killed his own brother and now his brother's son had found him. She prepared herself for a fight.

"Are you here to kill me?" René asked.

"I'm not sure." He answered truthfully. "I've heard many things about my father. Especially about how evil he was and when I went to Haiti to kill him... I found out you beat me to it. Now all I want to know is why; why did you kill him?"

"This is not the best place to explain. Let's go to my car." René said.

Valery nodded and followed him and Claire.

"René, this guy says he's your brother's son and you just believe him?" Claire whispered to him. "How do you know he's even telling the truth?"

"Because he has my father's eyes." René said.

/

They had finally got in the car. René made sure to switch his power off just in case his newly discovered nephew was out for blood. He did not want Claire to get hurt and not be able to heal.

René drove the car while Claire sat shotgun and Valery sat at the back.

"A few years ago I heard reports of my brother amassing a rebel army in Haiti." René began. "He was killing innocent people and taking what he could from the weak. I saw it as my responsibility to stop him because our father was a good man and he would not have approved of what he was doing, so I stopped him."

"I understand." Valery said. "My father expanded his evil in Africa. Using his power he helped a few rebels set up shop and while he was there he did many unforgivable things. My mother was one of the victims of his evil. She knew when she had me that I would be one of the only few people who could stop him, so all my life that is what she trained me for. But of course you did it before I could."

Claire felt sorry for Valery. It did not seem right to raise a child with the sole purpose of killing his father.

"Are you going to kill me?" René asked.

"No, I will not. When I heard of what you had done I suspected it was the act of one devil killing another but you seem to be a good man. You can drop me off now."

Claire was shocked. So that is how they'll leave things? With a 'I'm not going to kill you uncle, bye.' Family is important, that is something she had learned over the past years. "Do you have anywhere to go?"

René looked at her with a 'don't-throw-this-guy-on-me' look. But she had to do it. It would be her good deed for the day.

Valery was about to answer her question with a yes but then realised that he did not. Since he had fallen out with both Kurt and Vida he would be hunted for a while. Then suddenly he also realised that he now had no purpose in his life. For most of his early life his sole purpose was to kill his father and when he could no longer do that he decided he would look for René and if need be kill him. Now he had done that. What does a man who has achieved all of his dreams dream of? "No I don't." He said. He needed to avoid all of his usual places.

"Then you can stay with us for a while." Claire said.

"Thank you." He said looking out of the window.

_Mohinder Suresh - India _

"So you are just going to let the villain win?" Hiro said.

Mohinder was sitting across Hiro in a restaurant. They chose this restaurant because it was the only place in the Indian city that sold waffles.

"What do you expect me to do Hiro?" Mohinder asked. "Amir Prakesh is one of the most powerful and supposedly dangerous people in India."

"So what about your... dream friend?"

"I don't know where Sanjog is. So I can't even help him."

"Then get close to the villain and find out, like Matches Malone."

Mohinder raised an eyebrow. "Matches who?"

"You know, when Batman takes off his mask..."

"I thought Batman was Bruce Wayne when he took off the mask."

"He is!" Hiro said. "But when he spies on people..." Hiro sighed seeing the confusion on Mohinder's face.

"Is this a... Japanese thing?" Mohinder asked.

"No, its a American thing. Its a Batman-thing." Hiro said the last part more quietly. "You get close to Amir. You find where his keeping your friend, then when time comes..."

"We save him and destroy Prakesh!"

Hiro clenched his fist and said, "hos!"

Suddenly a black spot appeared between them and expanded. The black spot grew like fire expanding in the middle of a smoldering paper. It eventually engulfed them both then suddenly Mohinder found himself in a different world. It had white sands as far as the eyes could see. Above the sky was black with no stars, no light and yet everything could be seen clearly. The world he was in was both beautiful and unnerving.

He found Sanjog standing before him. "I'm sorry to disturb your dream but anyways, you should not be dreaming of the past."

Mohinder wondered if Sanjog knew of he and Hiro's plan to save him. He had never really understood how his abilities worked.

"I am here to ask something of great difficulty to you." Sanjog said.

"What?" Mohinder asked worried.

"I need you to store this man in your mind." Sanjog said pointing to a man who, it seemed, had appeared out of thin air.

The man was a black man, thin with small eyes. He had on kaki jacket and jeans. He never took his eyes off of Mohinder and Sanjog.

"Who is he?" Mohinder asked.

"He is one of Prakesh's strongmen. He is like us; he has the ability to shift parts of his consciousness to animals thereby possessing them. He made the mistake of splitting his consciousness between 23 dogs and now he cannot pull himself together again. This is one of the pieces of his consciousness that I could retrieve but I cannot totally heal him. Not now anyways."

"Wait. This guy's one of Prakesh's henchmen and you want to keep a piece of him in me?"

"That is why I said what I ask of you will be difficult." Sanjog said. "He may be useful in the future."

Mohinder sighed. "Why don't you ask someone else. Like Hiro, he would probably agree."

"The time traveler?" Sanjog said a little surprised. "No, he is too powerful. If he was taken over by him the results would be drastic."

Great so he thought it would make more sense to put Mohinder's mind at risk. "You don't sound like you trust him."

Sanjog looked at the man they were talking about. "I don't."

"Then why are we having this conversation right in front of him?"

"He does not know what we're saying for he does not speak Hindi."

"But we haven't been speaking Hindi..." Mohinder placed his hand over his mouth when he realised that the last part of his sentence was spoken in Hindi. He sighed again, this dream power thing was confusing. "Fine," he said in perfect Hindi, something he was unaccustomed to doing.

Sanjog smiled and said thank you.

Mohinder woke up at his desk. He realised he must have dosed off. He recited a few facts to himself to make sure Thulani hadn't taken over his mind. He realised that he now knew the man's name without being told. He was now sharing his mind with a piece of Thulani.

_Matt Parkman - Manhattan _

Matt sat down on a park bench but although his body was there, his mind was somewhere else entirely. His mind had entered that place that he needed to enter to sketch the future.

His mind finally returned and he looked at the picture he had just drawn. What he had drawn made him so mad, so furious that he could feel his heart beat quicken. He clenched the pad he was drawing on tighter, threatening to crush it. "Another dog! That's the 23rd one!" He shouted. No, this aspect of his ability was not helping him. He needed to rely on something else, something he was more familiar with.

He got up and walked through the amusement park. It was one of those moving amusement parks that never stayed in one place for too long. He knew Molly was here somewhere. He began to search the minds of people he saw, hoping one of them had seen Molly.

/

Molly and West were eating ice cream while Micah looked for a place where they could sit. He pointed at a small fountain bounded by a wall. They sat down with Micah in the middle. He opened up his laptop and on the screen the Mainframe's Invitation webpage appeared.

"Okay, so this Mainframe's Invitation event is happening a few days from now. We need to be ready for it." Micah said.

"Yes, I'm ready to attend it and find out who this Mainframe guy is." West confirmed in between licks of his ice cream.

"So you are going to be going there alone?" Molly asked.

"I'll be communicating with him through the whole thing." Micah assured her.

"But still, it sounds dangerous to be there alone. Should you not maybe call in rest of Rebel?"

"Yeah, make it a proper party!" West said.

"No." Micah said. "Rebel has disbanded and I think everyone we used to roll with back in those days are dealing with their own issues. You know, ever since our secret went public."

"But you'll still need back up." Molly said to West. "I will go with you."

"That could be dangerous!" Both boys said simultaneously.

Molly resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Boys and their need to protect girls from danger, she thought. "Come on guys. We have had a few adventures together. You know I can handle it."

They both could not argue with that. They began going through their plan and each role they would play during the event. They had been on a roll until the sound of someone calling Molly's name stopped there progress.

Molly looked up to see Matt standing a short distance away from them. The sight of him first made her feel love then came anger at the memory of what he had done. She got up quickly and was followed by West and Micah.

"Molly... I'm sorry about..." Matt began.

"You should be sorry! What do you want?" Molly said.

Matt gulped. This was not how he wanted to apologise. It would seem like he did it just to obtain her assistance. "Can we speak in private."

"I do not trust you enough to do anything with you in private! Whatever you came here to say, say it and go!"

This just became even more awkward for him. "We were wrong Molly and I don't know why we thought you would ever do anything to hurt my son. But someone did kidnap him."

Micah was surprised. He knew of Matt jnr. but he did not know he had been kidnapped. Who could have done something like that?

"I need help to find him. I need your help." Matt said.

Molly bit her lower lip in frustration. She wanted to be done with the Parkmans but if Matt's son was in danger then she had to help. Although, she was angry at him, she still loved him and did not want to see him suffer and the life of his baby was at risk.

She turned around and looked at Micah. An understanding passed between them and he smiled and nodded, "It's okay."

"I really did want to help." She said.

"I know but do what you have to do. We'll be okay." He assured her. "If you ever need anything, anytime any day, just call me... I mean us."

She hugged him and said quietly, "I will." She also hugged West and told him to be careful before she left with Matt.

Micah and West looked on as she left. "Call me, huh?" West said.

"Shut up West."

_Anita Rodriguez - Ohio, Vows Asylum_

"Remember the plan." The voice said to Anita.

"Yes, I remember it." She confirmed with to voice.

She heard the familiar sound of Brent opening her cell door. This was the usual time he tormented her. Brent walked in and smiled at his victim.

"How's my dog doing?" Brent said.

Anita took a deep breath. She needed to do this perfectly. She got up and slowly walked to Brent.

"What are you doing?" Brent said suspiciously.

Anita stopped inches from his face. She could smell his coffee breath and a tinge of alcohol. She looked deep into his eyes. She could not explain it but she could almost feel his emotions through his eyes. The contempt he felt for her; the disgust but there was something else he felt for her... lust. That is what she wanted. Anita pulled the lust out and the results were almost instant.

Brent forcefully mashed his lips to hers. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her onto the cell's small bed. He began taking off his shirt as he climbed on top of her.

His heavy body made it difficult for the thin Anita to breath. No, she should not lose control of this situation. Using all of her strength she switched positions with him. Once she was on top she reached behind her to her right sock. From the sock she pulled out a white plastic knife. She raised it above her head and brought it down with all her might.

Now anyone who has ever handled a plastic knife knows how weak it is. Even with the greatest of thrusts , it would be difficult to cause anything more than a painful bruise. However, there are parts of the body that would be vulnerable to serious damage from even a plastic knife. Anita did not want to go for the eyes because the knife would probably not be able to get through the tough sclera into the brain. She needed to put the knife in a place where it would be such a great obstruction that it would end Brent's life.

She thrust the white knife into his throat and pushed it further in before his eyes went wide with shock. Brent quickly got up knocking her off of him and hard into the floor. She landed with a painful thud as the man stumbled out of bed. He was clutching at his throat coughing out blood and struggling to breath. He gave one big cough and a piece of the knife stuck out of his throat. On instinct alone, he reached into his mouth and pulled the knife out of his throat. He looked at it in disbelief. The knife like his lips was stained red with his blood.

From the floor Anita watched in horror as her plan failed. The man she tried to kill was walking away and although he was badly hurt she had no doubt that he would survive, especially now that he had removed the knife. "It's...It's over, his still alive."

"It's still not too late Anita." The voice said. "But you have to act quickly. Kill him! Kill him now for your freedom or you'll spend the rest of your life in this place!"

With that a new fire was lit in her. She got up from the floor and charged at the retreating enemy. She pushed the bigger man on to the floor. His head landed where the door would rest if it was shut. Anita took advantage of her blind luck and slammed the heavy door to her prison cell shut. It bounced off the Brent's skull and swung open to return to her waiting hand. She slammed it again and again into his head. She slammed it with all her strength, with all her building rage and hate; hate for the years she had spent in this place being degraded by this man ; the rage she had felt building up everytime she had to explain herself to everyone, explain why she was not crazy, the rage she felt when no one believed her. The room was dark except for the moonlight but in her mind her emotions were burning bright, bright enough to blind her and with each and every slam she made against the man's head they burned even brighter. She did not stop slamming the door into the his head, even when his screams stopped; even when he began foaming at the mouth; even when his body stopped its epileptic-like quaking.

The voice called out her name but in her rage she ignored it. This only served to make it louder, as loud as it could get. It was like a fly buzzing around her ear and the more she swatted it away it would come back to buzz around even fiercer than before. She clenched her teeth and finally had had enough and she screamed, "WHAT!"

"Is it done?" The voice said in a panic.

For the first time Anita looked down at her handiwork. The anger faded replaced by satisfaction and then even it disappeared to be replaced by horror. "Yes, it's done," she said more to herself then to the voice.

"Then get on with it!" The voice commanded. "The Asylum is waking up."

That jolted her into action. She bent over and unclasped the keys from Brent's hip, then continued on into the hallways. She turned a corner then took a right. The voice was right the Asylum was waking up. Everywhere inmates screamed and banged on their cell doors. She could hear the panicked whispers of the guards trying to figure out what was wrong.

She finally reached her destination. It was a cell slightly different from hers. The door was not only thicker but wider too. It had more latches and was painted white. She had never been to this part of the Asylum before, she did not even know it existed.

Anita placed one of the keys she had taken from Brent into the door's key slot and turned it. There was a familiar but louder click. She began to pull the latches out of their locked positions.

As Anita did this she wondered what she would find in the cell. While making the escape plan, the voice said she should get the keys from Brent and come here and open the door. She assumed it also wanted to be freed but what if the voice did not exist. What if she opened the door to find nothing, further proving that it was just in her head. She killed someone because of it and if it did not exist, if it was not attached to a body then that would further prove that she belonged here. Maybe the door she was opening was her new cell.

On the other hand, what if the voice was real. She could be releasing a dangerous person out into the world. Someone who actually deserved to be locked up.

There was one latch left. She hesitated to even touch it. "I've come this far." She whispered to herself in Latin. She pushed the latch free and pulled the heavy door open. At first after peering inside she saw nothing but darkness then she saw a moving figure approaching her. The figure stepped into the dimmer light revealing his face.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I am your voice and your friend. My name is Samuel Sullivan but because your pretty you can call me Samuel."

The alarms began ringing loudly. Samuel said something but she could not hear over the sirens. He took her hand and pulled her away to the exit and out of the Asylum.

_Peter Petreli and Ricky - Staton _

"Seems safe, boss." Ricky said to Peter.

They were both hiding behind a row of bushes surveying the place they were about to break into. It was not hard to find Vikes' base of operations since Wilcox provided its location in the information he gave Peter. The place was walled off but they found a section of the wall where there were no people or cameras.

"I think your right." Peter whispered back. Suddenly without warning he jumped out of the woods and ran for the wall. He quickly scaled the wall by wedging his hands and feet between two raised sections of the wall.

Ricky followed close behind. He could not believe his boss would just make a move without telling him. "Wait for me, Boss." He said mimicking Peter's climbing technique. He looked up to see their progress and his eyes were met by falling debris. "Hnn!" He moaned as the dust landed on his eyeballs.

Peter stopped and looked down at him. "Are you okay?"

"You made dust fall into my eyes." He said.

"Is that all all? I'm sorry for that but you need to stop being a baby and continue climbing." He said continuing to climb.

"I'm not being a baby." Ricky said with tears coming from his irritated eyes.

Peter reached the top of the high wall first. From his vantage point he could clearly see the facility. "Be careful. There are spikes here."

The wall was lined with grey metal pikes rather than 'spikes'. Peter was careful and made sure he stood between them. Ricky pulled himself up using the pikes and stood next to Peter. He looked down at the far ground and felt gravity pulling him forward. Fearing that he would fall he crouched down on the wall, with his knees positioned between pikes and his hands tightly holding on to another. From his docile position he looked at Peter who was standing straight at full height. It was almost like he was in his element up here.

"Do you think we could survive a jump from this height?" Peter asked his terrified companion.

Ricky risked a peak below and quickly averted his eyes, resting them on Peter's legs. "Wh... Wh... What? A jump from this height would break your spleen."

"I've jumped from higher places." He said to himself. It almost seemed like it was just yesterday when he was standing on that roof looking down at his brother, Nathan. That was the first time he flew. He bent his knees and prepared to leap off the high wall. Then... he stopped, remembering his brother made him think more rationally. He could no longer fly and if he got hurt jumping off, he would not heal quickly enough. Too many people depended on him for him to be reckless now.

Peter surveyed the wall and found the same raised structure on this side of the it similar to the one he and Ricky had used to climb up.

"I've found a place where we can climb down." He said walking in between the pikes to the structure. Ricky followed, albeit he moved slower than him and he moved on his hands and knees rather than walk like Peter.

Peter once again wedged his arms and legs between the raised structures and began climbing and sliding down. When Ricky arrived he too did the same.

Peter reached the bottom quickly. He looked up at his partner who was descending painfully slow.

Ricky was too scared to move any faster. He knew Peter was probably getting impatient and for that he could not help feeling disappointed in himself. This was his chance to impress and he could not even keep up with the big boys.

Suddenly all thoughts of self doubt disappeared from his mind when he did one thing... he slipped. The fall was terrifying and although it was short to him it felt like a quick eternity. He twisted in midair more by luck than anything else and thrust his arms out to brace himself for the fall. Green energy shot out of his hands and hit the ground, the energy ricocheted from the ground to all directions. The advancing green wave hit Peter first, knocking him a few feet away to the ground. The upward moving part of the wave collided with the falling Ricky, slowing down his fall, causing him to safely land on the ground.

Ricky raised himself up. He almost could not believe that he was alive. "Boss? Boss!" Ricky ran to where Peter had landed. "Are you okay Boss?"

Peter slowly got up."I haven't been hit that hard since... never really."

"Sorry."

"No, you did a good thing. You stopped your fall by using your power. That was smart of you."

"Uhm... Thanks." Ricky said not mentioning that he used his powers the way he did by accident.

They snuck around the place for a while until they came upon a window. Peter tried to open it but it was locked. "Window won't open. I guess this is where you come in."

Ricky nodded and positioned himself in front of the window. This was his chance to impress. What Peter had felt before from his powers was only a little of what he was capable of. Tracy and Eli had trained him to focus his power into a more destructive force. He took a deep breath in and felt the power gathering in his body. He let it out through his hands as a focused blast. The green energy smashed through the window and the wall. There was now a big man sized hole where the window had been.

"If I knew you could do that, I would have picked any spot for you to blow a hole in." Peter said amazed. "Let's hope no one heard that."

Peter went into the building first. They were in one of the offices. He opened the door and peeked into the dark hallway. He was relieved to see it empty.

"Alright, remember the way here, just in case we get separated." He said.

Ricky nodded before he followed him into the hallway. Peter took out a pair of glasses that had little cracks along their edges and placed them over his eyes.

"What's that for?" Ricky asked in hush tones.

"This is my disguise." Peter said lightly tapping his glasses.

Who did he think he was? Superman? Ricky thought to himself. "Well I also bought a disguise." Ricky pulled out a ski mask.

"But that's too obvious. What if someone saw you?"

"Then they would not really see me." Ricky said taking off the ski mask.

They got to the information center. Peter located a computer and began typing in commands. He found the database containing the names of all specials. "Bingo! Now to delete all these names."

Peter clicked a few buttons then the words 'Access Denied' flashed in red.

"I can't delete the names without proper authorisation."

"Great. Now what do we do?" Ricky asked.

"I guess we call a friend."

/

Wilcox was reading an official document in his office. One of his Secretaries was there to help him understand it. Her name was Mary Smith, a red head with thick spectacles hiding her eyes and freckles on her cheeks.

"I don't know how you understand any of this jargon, Mary." Wilcox remarked struggling to understand what he was reading.

"Well I did go to school in order to understand it." She answered giggling.

"How about this. You read this document and dumb it down for me by tomorrow and I'll treat you to brunch."

Mary looked at the slightly overweight man. She found it strange that she had never seen him eat much. "The other girls might get jealous." She said.

"Fine, then I'll treat you all to brunch. They'll owe you one." He said before he began to cough.

Mary had begun to notice that his coughing spasms were becoming more frequent nowadays. She had asked him more than once if he was okay but he always answered with the same 'you worry too much' answer.

Wilcox coughed into a handkerchief. After he did so he was careful to put it away and not mistakenly show the blood that he had coughed up on it. "Now, lets continue." He said trying to pretend that everything was fine.

His phone suddenly rang. He looked at it for a while and realised he did not recognise the number. He picked it up and heard a familiar voice on the other side. "Peter! How are you?" He said happily.

"I need your help." Peter said through the phone. "I've broken into Vikes' place of operations..."

"What?" Wilcox shouted. He placed the phone close to his chest to muffle the sound. "That will be all for now Mary, thank you." He said dismissing her.

Mary looked suspiciously at him but nonetheless nodded and left him to his conversation.

"Why would you call me! I can't afford to be implicated in any of this."

"Yes but I need your..."

"Wait, when your call came up my phone did not recognise your number. Where are you calling me from?"

"The landline here. Now listen..." The other side of the line suddenly went dead. "He hung up on me." Peter said through clenched teeth.

"You could call Ms Strauss." Ricky suggested.

"That's what I was about to do." Peter said fingering the number into the landline phone.

/

Micah was packing up his belongings, getting ready to leave the apartment. The task was only made harder by his conversation on the phone. He held the mobile phone between his ear and shoulder to allow him to the use both of his hands.

"I'll be okay. I'm going to catch a train in the morning." He said.

"Why are you moving out so late?" Tracy asked over the phone.

Micah did not want to tell her that the reason was because he was preoccupied with figuring out the Mainframe's Invitation mystery. "I guess I got too comfortable." He lied.

"I could pay the hotel extra, get them to extend the lease..."

"No! You've already done too much." Micah said. "Don't worry I'll be fine."

"Hold on a minute, Micah. I have another call coming in." Tracy said putting him on hold before he could protest.

"Tracy! I'm glad you answered." Peter said when she answered the call.

"Peter...?"

"Listen Tracy. I've broken into Vikes' HQ..."

"You did what?" Tracy shouted. "So you just decided to ignore my advice?"

"Hey Ms. Strauss!" Tracy heard Ricky say in a loud whisper.

"You dragged Ricky into this mess!" She shouted some more.

Well technically she dragged Ricky into this mess, Peter thought but recognised that now was not a good time to have that argument. "Shut up and listen, Tracy...!"

Micah did want to wait for long but it seemed that Tracy was determined to make him. What could she be talking about to keep me on hold for so long? He began to be curious. He knew he should not spy on his aunt but his curiosity got the better of him. He used his powers to listen in on her conversation.

"I am literally looking at the personal information of everyone who has abilities. If Vikes has his way he'll use this information to hunt people like us down." Peter said.

"Then destroy it." She said realising what was at stake.

"I can't." He said. "Not without proper authorisation."

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm not a computer whizz and I have no other way to help you."

"I was afraid of that." He said disappointed. "We'll find another way," was the last thing he said before hanging up.

Tracy had almost forgotten that Micah was on hold. When she switched back to him she found that he too had hung up. Probably got tired of waiting, she reasoned with herself.

Micah was tracking Peter's call. He finally found the location and using his powers and his laptop as a gateway, he connected with the places technology. He could not believe such a place existed right under his nose. It was a good thing that people like Peter Petreli existed to safeguard his people like he did. He was glad that his aunt was working with him because Peter was a good man and one of the good guys.

He connected with the servers that held the database that had information on a lot of people with abilities. He told the servers to empty their contents into his own personal server and just to be safe when they were done he uploaded a computer virus he had created himself onto the servers.

He smiled to himself. "Well, that should keep them busy for a while." To finish off he told the security cameras of the facility to erase all the footage of that night then commanded the machines that control the buildings electricity supply to shut off. That should cover Peter for long enough so that he can safely get out of there, he thought to himself proudly.

/

Peter hung up the phone disappointed. He said he would find another way but there was no other way. He had run out of options.

"So Ms. Strauss couldn't help." Ricky asked.

Peter nodded unsure what to do next. He typed a few keys.

Ricky gasped at what he saw on the screen. "Wow, Boss! You did it!"

Peter looked up at him confused then he looked at the screen in front of him. The information on the database began to disappear, row by row, line by line.

"But I didn't do anything." Peter said in disbelief.

"Well, you did something." Ricky said.

When the database was completely gone the power went off. Unbeknownst to them when the facility was faced with a power failure certain protocols were put in place to protect the most important areas of the building. Peter and Ricky had first hand experience of such protocols when a metal door slid in, in front of their exit.

They ran to the now blocked exit. Through their combined strength they still failed to open the steal door.

"I guess I'm going to have to blow it open." Ricky said preparing to blast the door. He released a powerful burst of energy. The energy hit the door. It bent at its center but it did not give way. "Tough guy, huh?" He said preparing to take another shot.

"Don't hit it again." Peter said putting his hand in front of Ricky. " Look at the wall."

Ricky looked up at the wall near the door and saw cracks and a free debris falling off.

"I think this room was designed to collapse if anyone used brute force to enter it... or exit it."

"How do you know that stuff?" Ricky asked.

"I once saw a documentary on it."

Ricky looked closer at the door. "This door is magnetically locked. Look at this pad."

On the left side of the door was a small box with numbers on it. On top it had a light that shone red.

"Too bad we don't have the security code."

"Maybe we don't even need it." Ricky said. "My powers are partly magnetically based. Maybe I can reverse the door's magnetism through the pad."

"How do you know about magnetism?"

"I once saw a documentary on it." Ricky said placing his palms over the security pad and beginning to focus. He needed to apply enough of his energy without destroying the security pad. The energy radiated from his palms. The red light on the pad flickered red, then green, then red.

Peter could not help but hold his breath as he saw the security pad being slowly crushed. If it was too damaged, they would be stuck here.

Ricky began perspiring. Using his powers this way was hard. It felt like trying to hold back a river with a wall made of mud. He saw the flickering light finally set on green. The metal door detached from its resting place. Ricky could not help but smile, he had tried something very difficult and had succeeded.

"Come on lets get out of here." Peter said pushing the door open.

They ran through the halls until they heard sounds of soldiers approaching. Peter pulled Ricky into an adjacent room before they were upon them. They waited until it was safe to come out.

The hole in the wall that they had used to enter the building had four soldiers inspecting it. They did not know what hit them when they heard the door open then suddenly came a green light that knocked them unconscious. Peter and Ricky ran over the bodies on their way out of the facility.

_Team Wilcox - Washington DC_

Mindy, one of Wilcox's assistants was sitting at her desk. She was diligently working when an email disrupted her focus. She looked at the email's subject line and saw the words Report X.

"That's strange." Mindy said.

Mary looked up from the document she was reading. "What?"

There were two long receptionist desks on either side of Wilcox's office. Each desk had two computers for Wilcox's four personal assistants. On one of the desks was Mindy and on the other was Mary. The other assistants were on a late night coffee run.

"I've just received an email here with the subject headline Report X." Mindy said.

"That's interesting. Let me see it." Mary said rushing to her colleagues side.

"No. I'm not opening it." Mindy said. "It's probably for Mr. Wilcox. I'll forward it to him."

"No." Mary said. "This could be his secret."

"Excuse me."

"Think about it, Mindy. The secret meetings with Solver, the private phone calls."

"It'su private." Mindy whispered.

"But what if we could help with whatever it is." Mary reasoned. "His helped us so much what if we can do the same for him."

Mindy thought about it. Mr. Wilcox was a good man. He hired her when she had no experience and has been nothing but kind. He treats his assistants like his family. She reluctantly opened the email. They both read it.

Rebecca and Macy walked in carrying five cups of coffee in between them. When Mary and Mindy saw them they jumped to attention.

Rebecca, the head assistant looked at them suspiciously. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing. We're doing nothing." Mary said.

Rebecca eyed them. She began approaching the computer they had been staring at. "Let's see." She said. She looked at the screen and began reading the email.

"We... We didn't mean to read his email." Mary explained.

"This is Ken's... Mr. Wilcox's email." Rebecca said surprised. "I can't believe you two."

"You guys are in trouble." Macy said.

"Okay we shouldn't have done that but how is Mr. Wilcox connected to Claire Bennett?" Mary asked.

"Claire Bennett? As in Ferris Wheel girl?" Mindy asked. "I didn't get that far in the email.

"Yes, according to the email she's been seen leaving the country." Mary said.

"What has Mr. Wilcox gotten himself into?" Macy asked.

Rebecca was worried. She did not know what to do. From the email, it seemed that Mr. Wilcox had hired people to hunt Claire Bennett down. But why?

"Let's ask him." Rebecca said walking to the office.

"Rebecca wait..." Mindy said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he has a good reason for this." Rebecca said.

/

Wilcox was being confronted with the newly learned information by Rebecca.

"Ken, please tell me you have a reason for why your hunting down this poor girl."

Wilcox coughed for a while into a handkerchief. "I didn't want you... any of you to find out this way but I guess it's time. Call in the rest of the ladies."

All four of the receptionists had walked into the office. They stood before him in a straight line with Rebecca standing a little to the front. They felt strange being there. They could feel the tension in the room.

Wilcox began coughing again. There was more blood coughed up this time. "I've been trying to keep this a secret from all of you." He said. "I'm dying and Claire Bennett is the only one who can save me."

To be continued...


	5. Home is Where the Violence is

**Disclaimer Alert**

The characters appearing in the Heroes television series, Heroes novel and various other webcomics do not belong to me. Seroiusly I'm just having fun here so please don't sue me NBC and Tim Kring

* * *

**Author's note**

TOO... MANY... WORDS... USED. CAN'T... MAKE... CORNY JOKES. EN... JOY!

* * *

**Heroes: Brave New World**

**Episode 5**

_Wilcox, Mary, Macy, Mindy and Rebecca - Washington DC_

Silence had begun to grow in Wilcox's office. He had just told his assistants that he was dying and needed Claire to survive. It was like his words were still echoing in his assistants' heads. The silence became uncomfortable as no one dared to speak.

"Your dying? Since when?" Macy suddenly asked breaking the silence. "Why?"

"Let's just say I've known for a long time." Wilcox said. "And why? Well, mass organ failure."

"But that can be fixed with today's modern medicine." Mary reasoned.

"It's not just one organ; its not just a kidney or a liver, it's almost every organ in my body. That's why I need Claire Bennett, there's a theory that her blood will be able to heal me."

"I'm... Sorry." Mindy said shyly looking down. Truthfully she was apologizing for more than his dying condition, she was apologizing for opening the email that caused this conversation.

Wilcox smiled bravely at her. He wanted to hug her and comfort her; tell her that she had nothing to be sorry about. But he didn't.

"Let's leave Mr. Wilcox alone." Rebecca said opening the door for the girls to file out of the office.

While she closed the door her eyes met with Wilcox's. He gave her a sad but brave smile.

They got outside the office where the silence continued. Mindy began feeling sick and ran for the trash can. She bent down and threw up her lunch. Mary held up her hair while she threw up.

Rebecca stood with her arms crossed, just thinking of everything that had transpired.

"What's going to happen, Rebecca?" Macy asked.

"With our jobs?" Rebecca asked raising her eyebrow.

"No!" Macy said, she calmed down and kept her voice leveled. "No, I mean with Mr. Wilcox."

"You heard him." Rebecca said. "He will die unless he can find Claire Bennett."

Macy bit her lower lip in frustration. It was so hard to read Rebecca. She had been with Wilcox longer than any of them and yet she showed little emotion, even when she has just found out that he is dying. "What can we do to help him?"

"Support him emotionally. Help him find Claire Bennett." Rebecca said.

"Help him find Clair Bennett? Can we do that?" Mary said from the floor.

"I'm going to." Rebecca said.

"I want to help him too." Mindy said getting up from the floor. She thrust her hand in front of Rebecca.

Rebecca smiled at the gesture and placed her dark skinned hand over Mindy's lighter one.

"I want to help him too." Macy said also placing her hand with them.

They all looked at Mary who smiled at them. "Well, of course I want to help too." She said joining there hands with her own.

There, at that moment they made a silent pack to help Wilcox by finding Claire Bennett.

_Gretchen Berg - Washington DC_

Gretchen could not believe how quickly Noah Bennett was getting around. He was crossing states like he was flying on a private jet or something. She had exhausted all of her resources trying to follow him. She ended up in Washington with no money and her credit card maxed out. Her parents were going to kill but she had done this for a good cause, she was doing this to help Claire.

All she knew was that Noah Bennett had been in Washington four hours before she arrived. Using the car tracker she placed on him, she had almost narrowed down his position. According to the tracker that she was tracking from her cellphone, he was only a few feet away.

The sun had just began to rise and there were a few people in this part of Washington. She could not see Noah Bennett and was beginning to fear that maybe he could see her.

The only person she saw that matched the tracker's movements was a tall, thin man in an overcoat. From what she could see of his face, she could tell he was younger than Noah. When the man turned left and the position of the tracker changed she realised that she was tracking him. Had Noah Bennett somehow moved the tracker to this man? Her fears were confirmed when she saw the tracker on man's black overcoat. She felt her anger slowly building up. This was a cruel way to throw her off Claire's path.

She decided to follow the man anyways while thinking of a plan to get herself home and back on Claire's trail. The man turned into an empty ally. Gretchen spied on him from a hidden position. The tall man looked around as if he suspected he was being followed, when he seemed sure he was not he did something that Gretchen found hard to believe. He began to rise up parallel to the building as if he was in an invisible elevator. If she had not previously seen Claire heal and had been attacked by an invisible girl, she would have checked herself into a mental facility after having seen that.

/

Peter and Ricky got into the apartment all smiles and talking loudly.

"I was so scared, Boss!" Ricky said. "Dropping from that height. I thought I'd break my spine."

"But you saved yourself and almost broke my spine!"

They both laughed. It had been a good night for them. They were successful in their mission. "We should buy a drink to celebrate."

"Are you old enough to drink?" Peter asked Ricky.

"Aw! It doesn't matter. No one will know."

"I will!"

Their happy mood was abruptly ended when they heard tapping on the window. They looked at it to see Gabriel standing there. At first Peter was reluctant to let him in but he reminded himself that Gabriel had changed. Peter opened the window and let him float in.

"Hello, Peter." Gabriel said when he landed. He smiled at Ricky, "whose the kid."

"My name's Ricky and I'm no kid." Ricky answered.

"Yes, this is my bodyguard, Ricky." Peter added.

Gabriel wrinkled his nose. "Bodyguard?" He said coming closer to inspect Ricky. "Ridiculous! If you needed protection all you needed to do was ask me." Gabriel said the last part looking at Peter. "Kid, you can go home. Your no longer needed."

Ricky clenched his fists into tight balls of anger. "You don't tell me what to do."

Gabriel could feel Ricky's anger rising but he was not phased. What could the kid do? He gave the kid a cocky smile and his voice got lower. "You must be too young to understand English, because I just did."

The movement was fast but effective. Ricky flexed his wrists and opened his palms. A green energy shot out and hit Gabriel. He flew back and crashed through a wooden table and finally stopped flat on the floor.

"Ricky!" Peter reprimanded him. "What was that?"

"I didn't mean to hit him that hard."

"So you did mean to hit him?"

"No I..."

While Ricky stumbled through his excuse, Gabriel got up. He could not believe the amount of power that kid had. He felt an undeniable craving for it. He readied himself for a feast as he approached him like a predator, involuntarily licking his lips.

"I can't believe you'd just do something like that! It's inexcusable." Peter continued.

"Well, he asked for it." Ricky answered.

Hearing the exchange triggered a memory of Gabriel's. He was a young teenager reprimanding an even younger Peter. "I can't believe you'd start a fight like that, Pete! Its inexcusable!"

"Well, he asked for it." A pouting young Peter in a ruffled school uniform said.

Nathan's memory snapped Gabriel out of his deadly trance. The Hunger had not been that strong for a long time. He made a mental note to be more careful and to keep it in check.

"Gabriel and I need to speak in private. Leave us." Peter said dismissing Ricky.

Ricky looked down and left the room.

"Spirited young man." Gabriel remarked once he left.

"Yeah but his a good kid." Peter said. "You want something to drink?"

"Coffee. Thanks."

Peter began making the brew. "So, what brings you buy? Do you have news on Claire?"

"Yes. From what I gathered, she's somewhere in England. Well out of the reach of anyone here." Gabriel said.

"Good! That must've been Noah's doing!" Peter shouted to be heard from the kitchen. He walked back into the room to place the coffee on the table. He saw that Gabriel had crashed so hard into the table that two of its legs had broken off. Peter sighed, it seemed everytime Gabriel 'came over' his expenses went up. He located him sitting on the couch and gave him his coffee there.

Gabriel could feel that Peter was uncomfortable sitting opposite him drinking coffee. They still had a long way to go in this uneasy relationship of theirs. "I found out where they would be keeping her if they did catch her. Although I don't know who exactly owns the place I can tell you it's some big politician."

"Then I think we've already dealt with that." Peter said. "Ricky and I broke into a place that was designed to hunt and imprison people like us. I think it is the same area your talking about. Its also owned by a big politician named Gilbert Vikes." Peter told Gabriel the address of the place.

Gabriel shook his head and told him the address he had.

Peter was now worried. Was it possible that Gilbert Vikes had more than one HQ. That would spell trouble for them.

"I'll infiltrate the building. See what I can learn." Gabriel offered.

Peter nodded and saw him out the door. It seemed that as soon as he dealt with one problem another would emerge from the woodwork.

_Matt, P and Molly, W - Airport _

Molly Walker sat patiently on a bench while Matt Parkman tried to con his way into a plane heading to India with his telepathy.

It came as a complete shock when she took Matt junior's baby shirt and tracked him in India. She was in such disbelief that she did it again and came up with the same location. It was almost like destiny was calling her, calling her back to India.

Matt came back with two plane tickets. "Alright, lets get going."

"But you don't even have a passport." Molly protested.

"Don't worry. I've got that covered." Matt said tapping the side of his temple.

"Of course. How could I forget." She said bitterly.

Matt gave an uneasy smile. He did not need to be a mind reader to know she was still mad at him for using his powers to take control of her.

/

Ando walked out of the terminal. He yawned as he walked through the airport. He could not get any sleep for he was too stressed. He had no idea how he would find Hiro in a whole country. It became obvious to him that he might have to first find Mainframe or at least attend Mainframe's Invitation event to get anymore leads on Hiro's location.

As he walked through the busy airport his eyes chanced upon a familiar face walking with a girl. He had not seen this face for so long that he almost did not recognise it.

"Matt Parkman?" A voice called out to Matt.

Matt turned his head to see Ando standing there smiling. "Ando! What are you doing here?" He said shaking his hand.

Ando's mood got serious. "I'm here to find Hiro. He's been missing for a few days."

"You think he's in America?"

Ando nodded. "Is there any way you can help me find him?"

"I'm sorry, no." Matt said. "If I hadn't just found out about your problem, I would have asked you to help me with mine. My son has been kidnapped and is currently being held in India. That's where I'm going now."

"Your son has been kidnapped!" Ando exclaimed. "I'm sorry. If I find Hiro, we'll immediatly go to India to help you."

Matt nodded. "Again, I'm sorry I couldn't help..."

Matt was interrupted by Molly clearing her throat loudly. She had been quietly listening to the conversation and decided this was the perfect time to interject.

"Oh! This is my daughter Molly..." Matt suddenly realised what a fool he'd been. Molly could help Ando find Hiro! "My daughter can track anyone! She can help you!"

"Really?" Ando said looking at Molly with hope in his eyes.

Molly nodded. Ando picked her up in his arms and happily spun her around in the air.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Ando said.

He placed her down and it took time for her head to stop spinning. "Then let us find him. I need something that belonged to him. A personal item of his or a picture."

Ando thought to himself for a little. "I don't have anything of his," he said taking out his iPad. "All I know is that his disappearance is connected with this..." He turned the pad around to show them Mainframe's Invitation webpage.

"Mainframe's Invitation." Molly said knowingly. This is what Micah and West were investigating.

"Can you track the person who sent this to him. Can you track Mainframe?" Ando asked.

"No, I..." Molly began thinking about her ability. It allowed her to find anyone by having anything they owned or at least anything that had a strong enough imprint of the person. That is why she could not track someone using emails and such things. They were cold, emotionless and indifferent. However, this webpage had been sent multiple times to a select group of people. Whoever had made it must have put a lot of work, time and energy on it, therefore it should have a strong imprint of its creator.

Molly placed her hand on the screen of the iPad. She could not believe she was even trying this. If it worked; if she finds out that she could have helped Micah and West by finding this guy, she would kick herself. Suddenly her mind was transported to a another place. She noted the address and came out of it.

"I know where Mainframe is." She said writing the address down on Ando's IPad. "Listen Ando. I wrote two addresses here. The first one is where Mainframe is. The second one is where a friend of mine named Micah is. He is also looking into Mainframe. If you go to him, he will help you."

Ando nodded. "I will. Thank you Molly; thank you Matt."

There was an announcement made in the airport. "Flight to India is about to disembark! I repeat, flight to India about to disembark will all passengers make their way to the terminal!"

Matt looked up. "That's us." He was about to walk away when he remembered the picture he had painted of Ando lying on a cracked pavement with blood coming out of his nose and mouth. He wondered if he should tell him. What if looking for Hiro was what would cause his death or what if telling him is what caused it. "Molly, I'll meet you at the terminal."

Molly got the message and nodded. "Good luck Ando." She said before leaving.

"Ando, I painted a picture of you a while back. You were lying on the ground and it seemed like you were..."

"Dead?" Ando said.

"Yes but you may have just been hurt. I don't know."

Ando nodded. "I'll be okay. Good luck finding your son. Hopefully, I'll find Hiro as soon as possible and we can help you with your son."

Matt smiled and they shook hands before he ran for the terminal. He was partly surprised that Ando was still willing to look for Hiro even if it may end up in his death.

/

Molly was standing at the entrance of the terminal trying to make a call to Micah. The automated machine response told her that he was unavailable. She clenched her teeth as she tried again and got the same response. She saw Matt running to the entrance, he rushed her in through the terminal. She sighed as she gave him his cellphone back. She bitterly thought how it would be uncomfortable flight for her because she would have to find a way to kick herself for the whole journey.

_Claire, René and Valery - England _

Claire Bennett was bored. She felt like she had done everything possible, she had read a newspaper front to back; cooked lunch for the guys and dinner for later that night; she had cleaned the house and was now beginning to consider having a pretend conversation with the table cloth.

Valery and René stepped into the kitchen at the same time and nodded to each other before continuing on in their respective paths. For Claire that was the last straw. This was what they had been like. She thought having Valery around would make René open up more, make him talk more. However, she found that Valery was just as quiet as René. They both lacked the skill to have a conversation. Whatever they said was straight to the point, they spoke no more and no less than what they needed to.

Seeing them nod to each other in their silent language made her want to scream. "There is no bread!" She said louder than she had expected.

They both looked at her surprisingly.

She got up and now quietly spoke again. "There's no bread and I want bread."

"I'll get it on my way..." René began.

"No, I'll get it. There's a certain kind of bread I like. So I'll get it."

"Claire. You are well known. You have to go out in public only when it is absolutely necessary."

"Then I'll wear a binnie to cover my hair and a pair of sunglasses."

René looked at her and sighed. He understood how she felt. She was not accustomed to being trapped in one place. "But I can't accompany you. I need to go somewhere."

"Valery will come with me."

René looked at Valery who continued to remain quiet. He was still not sure if he could completely trust his newly discovered nephew.

"Come on René." Claire pressed.

"Okay. If Valery agrees." He relented before he left the room.

Claire gave Valery one of her sweetest smiles.

/

Soon, Valery and Claire found themselves driving to a store. There were closer shops but Claire wanted time to breath in the air. The weather was uncharacteristically clear and warm.

"What store are you going to buy your bread from?" Valery said, sitting shotgun besides Claire.

Claire realised that she had not spoken to him ever since they left the house. "You'll know when we get there." Claire said trying to be mysterious. "So, are you ever going to go back to Africa?"

"Perhaps." He said.

She frowned at the simple answer. She remembered their kryptonite was holding a conversation.

She drove into the store parking lot and parked the car then they entered the store.

"You go and get the bread, I'll get a little junk food.

"But I don't know what kind of bread you like."

"Just get anyone." Claire answered before disappearing into a shopping aisle.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes had noticed there entrance into the shop. The man watching them made sure he was hidden from sight. He picked up his phone and quickly punched in some numbers and waited for a reply. "Vida... Yes, it's me. You won't believe who I saw."

/

They had finished with their shopping and were now exiting the store. They got to their car only to find four guys standing by it. Valery recognised them instantly. They were members of his old gang.

"Hello, Val." One of them said upon seeing him.

"Do you know these guys?" Claire asked him.

"Yes." He answered. "What do you want?"

""We want the bag you took from Kurt's place."

Claire remembered that when they first met Valery all he had was a bag. Ever since that time she had never seen it again.

"Ask Kurt where it is." Valery said.

"He doesn't have it and if you don't tell us where it is, we're going to break your bones and your pretty friend too." The other said.

"Hah! Try it!" Claire shouted out defiantly.

They began to surround them. Valery gritted his teeth. "I don't have what you want but if you do this, you'll live to regret it. Assuming you live through this."

One of them lunged at Claire, pulled off her binnie and grabbed her by the hair causing her to drop her shopping bag. She moaned as she squirmed to get her hair out of the man's grip. Valery reacted too late as two of the other thugs grabbed him on either side and made him stand still. The fourth attacker took out a long knife and pointed it at Valery.

"Don't be stupid, Val." He said to Valery whose arms were being held by two of the thugs.

Valery could hear Claire's grunts as she tried to escape. He hated to drag her into this. He thought that maybe she could handle herself since she was with his uncle but he was starting to think otherwise.

Claire was wrestling to get her hair out of the man's grasp. The man kept laughing as he pulled her head around using her hair. Everytime Claire tried to grab him, he'd simply jump back and pull her hair to the side.

The man was toying with her and she knew it. Although it made her mad, she tried to not do something rash. He would pay soon enough; her father taught her 'the enemy you underestimate, is the most dangerous'. Claire stopped lunging at the man and let him pull her hair around for a while in order to make him drop his guard. She would pull a little to make it seem like she was still struggling.

"What's the matter blondie. Can't you free yourself. Come on, you can do it!" The man said while laughing and yanking her hair cruelly.

Claire suddenly took the opportunity to surprise him. She planted her feet to the ground and with all her strength pulled her neck back and hoped that the roots of her hair were strong enough. Although some of her hair snapped off either in the middle or at the root, enough of it held through to pull him forward into Claire by this action and his nose was pulled right into Claire's left jab. His eyes were suddenly blinded by tears as he cradled his bleeding nose.

"You bi...!" He was silenced by an upward kick to his nether region. The man crumpled to his knees after the low blow. Another lesson she was taught by Noah Bennett, 'Never fight fair.'

As soon as Valery saw that Claire had dealt with her attacker, he began to deal with his. He bent his knees, thereby lowering his height, and he brought his arms together above him causing the craniums of the two men holding them to crash into each other. Because his legs were already bent, he was able to quickly launch himself to the knife wielder in front of him. The knife wielder thrust forward with his knife and Valery met the knife point with his open palm. As soon as the knife stopped in his palm he maneuvered his hand to grab the blade of the knife. Valery twisted the knife out of his attackers grasp using his newly acquired grip while simultaneously bringing his other hand up for a hook aimed at the man's face. He was able to knock the man to the ground. The two assailants he had taken cared of began to rise along with the one he had just punched. Valery flipped the knife in his hand so that he held it by its hilt instead of its blade. It looked like he would have to deal with these people... permanently.

Suddenly a car stopped beside him and Claire, through the window, called out his name. Valery abandoned his plan to kill these men and ran to car. Once he was safely in, it sped off before the people they had fought recovered.

_Gretchen Berg - Washington D.C._

Gretchen had been following the tall, pale man for a while. He stopped in front a building and was seemingly staking the place out. He then made a visible effort to touch one of the employees from the place. He was very sly about it.

The man then went into a public toilet. She expected the same man to come out the toilet but instead a woman came out! Not just any woman but the woman he had touched after he staked out the building. The tracker was now corresponding to the movements of the woman.

Gretchen gasped when she began to get some idea on what was going on. "Noah Bennett is a Skrull!" She said to herself. She realised that whoever this person is, he was impersonating Noah Bennett. All this time she had been helping a bad guy find Claire.

She saw the shape shifter enter the building. Whoever this person was he or she seemed to be very interested in this building. Whatever the shape shifter was up to, she'd stop it.

She went into the building after him.

_Matt, P and Molly, W - India_

As soon as their plane landed, Matt and Molly went about finding baby Matt. Molly used her power to pinpoint his exact location. They ended up in front of a three story brown building. It seemed to have guards posted at its entrance.

"So, you've located him in there." Matt confirmed.

"Yes." Molly said. "Now all we have to do is get him."

"Okay. Stay close to me."

They approached the building with Matt leading the way and Molly following behind his bigger figure. When they got too close one of the guards stepped forward and put his hand up in the universal sign to stop.

Matt did not even slow down. He just tilted his head to the side and sent out a thought. _You know us_, he sent out the thought.

"We know you." The guard said.

_Let us through,_ Matt commanded with his mind. The guards stepped aside and let them enter.

Once inside Molly led the way. While she was walking down the hallway an employee of the building appeared from a corner. She hesitated and stopped moving.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "I'm making him ignore us. You just keep moving, I'll keep you safe."

Molly nodded and continued with her work. Whenever she saw someone she no longer hesitated because she knew Matt would handle it. With every step she could feel it; they were getting closer to the baby.

_Emma Kooldridge - Manhattan _

Emma was studying some notes off her laptop. The page she was studying from disappeared when a blue webpage appeared on it.

Pop-up ads on an offline document! She angrily thought to herself. Emma's finger was already on the touch pad, instinctively moving the mouse pointer to the close button. She was about to double tap close when her eyes caught the headline of the document.

The blue document's headline did not begin with 'you win' or 'your the [nth] visitor', instead the headline was 'Mainframe's Invitation'. She was about to read on when she heard a knock on the door or more accurately saw the sound of a knock . She would have to read this later.

She got up and walked to the door. She looked through the looking glass to see who it was. At first she could not see anything, it was like there was some kind of obstruction in front of it but as her eye adjusted to the sight she realised she was looking at an eye! Although she was slightly freaked out by the eye, she still opened the door. She was not sure why she did but she just did. When the door opened she saw a Mexican woman standing there, then Samuel Sullivan appeared from the side with a friendly smile on his face. Emma's eyes went wide with fear and she quickly tried to slam the door shut. However, Samuel was too fast and he wedged his body in between the door so that she could not close it. They struggled for a while with Emma trying to close the door and Samuel trying to open it. Samuel grunted and gave a big shove forward. The door flew open thereby off balancing Emma and forcing her to the floor. She got up and ran to the phone, she needed to dial 911 to get help. She grabbed the phone and began to dial but Samuel knocked the phone out of her hand and grabbed her.

Samuel dragged her to the couch and pinned her there. "Anita! Do it now!"

Anita helped pin her and placed her face to Emma's. Emma wanted to call out for help. She wanted to tell this woman to help her and that Samuel was not only dangerous but evil too, however all that came out of her was panicked breaths that would occasionally wheeze and hiss through her mouth.

Anita looked at the panicking woman deep in her eyes. Her face was so close to hers that they were sharing each others breaths. Anita, using her ability, tried to make her trust Samuel. She tried to ignore the immense panic Emma was feeling only to find her fear, her fear for Samuel and under the fear was hate for him. What had Samuel done for this woman to harbor such negative feelings towards him, Anita thought to herself. He had only showed her kindness and wisdom about Anita's powers but what if he was hiding a darker side. After all, he was in an Asylum but then again so was she. Success, she found the feeling she was looking for in Emma, beneath the sea of fear and the desert of hate she found a spark of trust. The spark was remnants of how she felt a long time ago about Samuel but it was rapidly disappearing. She tried to save the feeling intensifying it. The spark grew into a small flame, next it became a raging inferno that engulfed Emma's hate and fear.

When the job was done, she fell back on to the floor, exhausted and perspiring. Samuel released Emma and asked her if she was okay. Emma nodded calmly. Anita had succeeded, Emma now trusted Samuel and hopefully, will now do anything he asked.

"This is my friend Anita Rodriguez," Samuel began. "Anita, this is Emma Kooldridge... my friend."

Emma nodded. She bent down next to Anita. She noticed that she had bruises and was close to the point of malnutrition. She signaled to her that she would return and disappeared to her room.

Anita struggled to get up. Using her powers like that took a lot from her. "Why does she not speak, Samuel?"

"She is deaf." Samuel informed her.

"I don't see how she can be of any use to us. Maybe we should leave her alone."

"Don't underestimate her usefulness." Samuel said. "She is like us. You see Anita, people like us are weaker when we are apart. The rest of the normal people will take advantage of that and put us in any deep hole they can find, like they did to you..." Samuel saw Emma's laptop and walked to it. "... like they did to me." He said as he began to read the message on the screen. "She will help us bring our people together so that we can be strong against anyone." Samuel read Mainframe's Invitation and was surprised at what he read. This Mainframe-person was gathering people like them, he was unknowingly building an army. Samuel's abilities were currently weak in the state they were in but if enough specials got together in one place, his power would exponentially strengthen. He smiled as he thought that with both Emma and Anita at his side he could easily hijack this Mainframe's Invitation event.

Emma got back and began to tend to Anita's bruises. Samuel was thankful to Emma because if his plan was to work, he would need all the members of his team to be at their best health. He was fortunate to have found Anita, he had encountered a similar ability in a carnival member. Anita had the ability to intensify or dull any emotion or feeling that a person had but it seemed her ability depended on her having eye contact with the person she was using it on.

He took the phone he had knocked on the ground and began dialing a number. He placed the phone to his ear. "Eli, this is Samuel. I'm planning something big and I may need your help."

_Claire and Valery - England _

Claire and Valery walked into the house.

"René! René!" Claire called out. "He must have already left." She said to Valery.

"Claire, if you don't mind..." Valery began.

"Don't worry. I won't tell René what happened at the store."

Valery nodded his thanks and disappeared to his room. Claire sighed. Back to silence again, she thought.

Valery reached under his bed and from it took out a black bag. This was the bag that Kurt had sent him to deliver. He opened it to find plastic bags of drugs in it. He was not really sure what to do with them. He could sell them and keep the profits or anonymously give it to the police. He had to think about it.

Claire heard the doorbell ring. She got up from the couch and opened the door. Vida was standing there with the some of his cronies. Claire recognised one of them to be the man she had fought in the parking lot of the store. The man took out a gun and shot Claire four times in quick succession.

Claire was able to get the door shut before she fell back. When Valery heard the gunshots, he grabbed his gun and the bag and ran to the kitchen. He saw Claire lying on the floor with blood smeared on the door. Valery tucked his gun behind his back and lifted her body. He carried her onto the couch.

He looked at her wounds and was amazed when they began to close up right before his eyes. Two bullet wounds in her chest spat out round balls; one in her shoulder forced a bullet out and began disappearing and the wound in her stomach no longer existed. Claire looked like she was about to throw up when she spit out a bullet in her hand and let it drop.

Valery was stunned; she was like him but in a different way. He suddenly remembered something from his time in America. A blonde girl, who jumped from a high height and survived. "Your her. Your the girl who jumped."

"I think our friends from the store are back." Claire said getting up.

As if on que, the door burst open and the thugs rushed in with guns drawn. Valery covered Claire while running for the next room.

"Stay here!" He commanded before running out to shoot at the intruders.

"No!" Claire shouted out trying to stop him. He was breaking the rules she was taught on how to survive a firefight. Noah told her in a gunfight where you are outnumbered you should find adequate cover where you can pick the enemy off one by one and pray that you're faster on the trigger.

Valery however was not following those rules. He was less worried about the 'finding adequate cover' part than 'picking off his enemies' part. He was able to shoot one of them in the leg before they ran for adequate cover. Vida was confused; there were five of them and Valery was in full view of his gang and they each got off more than one shot at him. Yet , Valery was still standing and to make matters worse he was able to shoot one of them. Were all of them really bad shots or was Valery that lucky?

Claire dropped a heavy vase on the head one of Vida's men. The man collapsed unconscious and Claire relieved him of his gun. She checked how many bullets were still in the cassette and when satisfied she pushed it back in the gun. She analyzed the situation. There was a trail of blood on the floor and since Valery seemed perfectly healthy, she came to the conclusion that he probably shot one of them. Also, although Valery was outnumbered he seemed to have the upper hand because they were hiding from him.

Valery walked through the house which except for the sound something breaking a while ago was deadly quite. Valery was looking around carefully, although their guns were useless on him, he could not allow them to gang up on him or he would lose his advantage.

And, as if they were reading his mind, one of them jumped from behind him and tackled him into a table. Valery's gun was knocked away from him during the attack. He quickly got onto his feet and charged at the attacker. The attacker took out his gun and shot straight at the oncoming man yet he did not slow down. Valery knocked him on his back and they wrestled for the gun while the man on his back got off a few more shots at Valery's face. Valery was able to get the gun and hit the attacker over the head with the the butt of it, knocking him unconscious. Another thug came out of hiding and fired at him. Claire appeared from a corner and fired at the legs of the thug shooting at Valery. The man being surprised and hurt limped away, out of the house.

Valery got up and tried to warn Claire that there was someone coming up from behind her but it was too late. Vida grabbed Claire and pointed the gun at her temple.

"Careful Blondie! Or I'll put a bullet in your brain, just like I did to Kurt." Vida warned her and indirectly Valery.

So he did kill Kurt. Valery slowly approached him. "Vida, don't do this. I'll give you the bag, just don't hurt her."

Vida smiled. He finally had the upper hand. "Throw it over."

Valery took off the bag from around his shoulders and threw it to the floor next to them.

"You shouldn't have trusted me." Vida said squeezing the trigger.

"Wait!" Valery stopped him. "If you kill her, I will kill you. But if you let her go, I'll kill myself."

"There's no need to do this. You've seen what I can do." Claire said to Valery.

"Shut up! Do it!" Vida spitted out.

Valery placed the gun in his mouth and squeezed the trigger. His head jerked when the bullet hit him and he fell backwards. Vida was surprised by what he saw. He could not believe he did it.

Vida threw Claire onto the floor laughing. "The idiot! I can't believe he did it!"

Claire was about to unleash a savage attack on him when Valery sat up and fired three bullets into his chest. Valery got up on his feet while Claire instinctively checked on Vida's pulse. He was dead. She looked at Valery surprised he was still standing before her.

"How are you still alive?"

He spat out a smoking bullet into his hand and let it fall to the floor. "Your not the only one who can spit out bullets." He said.

Claire realised that Valery was invulnerable. "I hope you didn't shoot yourself so that you could say that!"

_Gretchen Berg - Washington DC_

Gretchen entered the building that Gabriel had entered in the guise of one of the employees. Her plan was simple: she would find the shape shifter and stop him.

Gretchen began feeling uneasy when she saw that the building was full of armed individuals. She made sure not to make direct eye contact and to act like everything was normal, like she was meant to be there.

Gretchen saw the shape shifter. Now was her chance! She quickened her walking pace to confront him... her... it. However, as soon as she approached, the shape shifter would begin to move away. She followed it into a room, out of a door, left, right until she eventually lost her.

Gretchen began to realise that she was not going to catch up to the shape shifter. She would need help and she knew of only one way to receive it in this place. She waited until she saw one of the armed men. When the armed individual passed by her, she jumped on his back and began pounding on his back. The man was able to wrestle her to the floor and pin her down.

/

Gillian McKay had been working at the facility for longer than anyone else. He was the only employee who knew he worked for Kenneth Wilcox but that was understandable since he was the director of operations. He was hired because he was the best and he had has seen and dealt with everything. So he was the most qualified man to deal with a young woman kicking and screaming and asking to speak with the 'leader', which, in the absence of the real leader, was him.

The woman was trying to get out of the hold of the guard who held her from behind. He gave the the young woman one of his 'you don't want to mess with me' looks and she stopped squirming.

"If you promise me that you'll calm down, I'll tell my man to let you go." He said to her calmly.

The tall, brunette woman nodded.

Gillian nodded to the man holding her and he let her go. "Now, what's your name and why do you want to see me?"

Gretchen had found the person who was in charge of this place. She now hoped that he would be able to help her but first she would need him to believe her. "I followed someone in here and that person is a shape shifter. He... or since his currently a girl, she is in this facility right now."

"How do you know this." Gillian asked.

"I... I was helping him to find Claire Bennett. He made himself look like her father..."

"Noah Bennett?" Gillian asked trying to hide his excitement. They had been hunting down Claire Bennett for a while now but she had always found a way to slip through their fingers. If this girl could somehow help her then she would be an important asset but first they would have to look into this shape shifter business. "Can you identify the shape shifter now?"

Gretchen hesitated before she answered. She had not exactly seen the shape shifter's new image up close. No, she could not doubt herself now this was to protect Claire. "Yes!"

Because they were in the security room, the facilities security cameras were near by. "Bring up the security footage!" Gillian said as he lead Gretchen to the security monitors. "Try to find her."

Gretchen looked at the tv monitors hoping she would find the shape shifter. Her eyes moved over the monitors but the people she saw were not the shape shifter. She was beginning to doubt her memory and then she saw her, she saw the shape shifter!

"There she is!" She excitedly pointed at the monitor while jumping up and down. "That's her right there!"

/

Gabriel did not know what he did wrong. He had found a computer and began to access its information. He found out the name of the person in charge of this place. It was a man named Kenneth Wilcox but before he could find out more, a few armed men surrounded him.

"Excuse me ma'am," one of the men said. "May we see some identification?"

"Oh, okay." Gabriel said in his new high pitch voice. He made a mock effort to look for some identification that he knew he did not have. "I seem to have forgotten it. Can you guys give a lady a pass?" Gabriel said fluttering his guise's eyelashes and smiling sweetly.

"You'll have to come with us." One of the men said.

"Oh well." Gabriel said. He flicked his womanly hands and two of the armed men fell to the side. Then he began running for the nearest window.

He had to get out of this place as quickly as possible. In his flight to freedom he jumped over desks and knocked over a few computers.

"Everyone get down!" One of the armed men shouted before he opened fire at the fleeing woman.

The bullets raced through the air to hit Gabriel in the back and legs. He stumbled and fell to the floor. The bullets were still raining down on him so he moved a few tables in front of his body. His breath became shallow as he waited for his wounds to heal. Looking around the room he saw that it was too small to fly through. He had to get to a window fast.

The men began approaching the tables that had mysteriously moved in front of their target. In a pincer movement they moved around the table in a plan to trap their target.

Suddenly Gabriel ran out of the pincer formation. He was close to the building windows now. He put his thumb and middle finger together. He was preparing to activate his disintegration ability. He could feel the window glass' resistance to breaking apart and because he was running he could not focus enough, resulting in the process being less than instantaneous. Nevertheless, the glass finally succumbed to the ability and disintegrated into a thousand small pieces resulting in the release of the pressure holding his thumb and middle finger together, causing him to make a snapping sound. Gabriel's body began to change into his own original body before he jumped out of the building and flew away to safety.

/

Gretchen watched the security monitors in horror as the shape shifter somehow smashed the windows without touching them and flew away. Gillian was so frustrated that he was shouting orders into his communicator and banging on the table.

"Aw man! I forgot he could do that." Gretchen said.

"You knew he could do that!" Gillian said angrily.

Gretchen stepped back in fear, "I've seen him fly but it's the first time I've seen him do all that other stuff."

"I want you to tell everything you know, about Claire Bennett and this shape shifter." Gillian said. He knew that this girl was the key to finding Claire and he would use her in any way he could.

_Kenneth Wilcox - Washington DC_

Kenneth Wilcox spun around in his chair as he read a document. He stopped spinning and placed the document on the table. He was surprised when he saw a red dot appear on the white paper under him. Then another dot appeared, then another. His hand rushed to his nose to stop the bleeding. He found his handkerchief and pressed it to his nose. He had had this before; this kind of nose bleed could not be stopped. He would have to wait it out. His health was deteriorating before his eyes. He looked down at his pot belly and thought maybe he should have exercised more. He was little over weight which was a result of fast food and a serious lack of exercise. He wished he could exercise his health problems away like any normal person.

He looked at his phone to see if he had time to wait out the nosebleed and was surprised to see that he was fifteen minutes late for a meeting. He grabbed his jacket and put it on while calling his associates.

"Hello, this is Kenneth Wilcox. I'm sorry that I'm late for the meeting, there must have been a mix up that my personal assistants didn't notice..." Wilcox kept quiet while the man on the line spoke to him. "Oh really? Okay, then I'll see you next time." Wilcox said before hanging up and dialing a new number.

Rebecca was explaining something to someone important when her phone rang.

"Excuse me Sir. My boss is calling me." She said excusing herself.

"If it's Wilcox, tell him that he better be careful cause I might steal you from him!"

Rebecca giggled before she answered. "Yes Sir."

"Rebecca, what's this I hear about you taking over my duties?" Wilcox asked.

Rebecca covered her mouth and began speaking more quietly so as not to be heard. "Ken, you need to focus your energy on other things, like your health."

"In is not your responsibility to..."

"Yes it is." Rebecca interrupted him. "We are all working to try to help you. Me, Mary, Macy and Mindy. The least you could do is honor our efforts by focusing on your health."

Wilcox was about to argue when she hung up. He could not believe she had done that! What had gotten into her? He calmed himself down and was able to think clearly. He realised that she was acting this way because she cared for him, they all did. And how did he show his appreciation? With anger and frustration. He felt very ashamed of himself.

/

"I think I found something!" Mary said.

Mindy and Macy rushed to the freckled red-head's side.

"You've found Claire?" Macy asked.

"Or an incident involving her." Mary corrected. "There was a report of an incident outside of an England store involving five men and a blonde woman who, from the security camera footage, looks like Claire Bennett.

"Do you know where she is exactly in England?" Macy asked.

"No. I can't pin point exactly where she is." Mary said. "And because the number plate of the car she was in is not shown clearly, there's nothing I can do."

"Well, if you find other footage of the car maybe we could see the number plate." Mindy said quietly.

"How would she even do that?" Macy asked.

"Well, if she went to England recently. Maybe if we look at the airport footage..."

"We could find the car's license plate and track her down!" Macy said snapping her fingers. "But can you hack into the airport security footage?"

"Of course." Mary said, increasing the speed of her typing.

Mary had been working for two hours. In those two hours Mr. Wilcox went out and came back half an hour later with lunch for them. Macy informed Rebecca what they were doing and Mindy was working quietly in a corner.

Mary jumped up excitedly and threw both arms in the air and shouted, "I did it!"

Mindy was violently pulled out of her own quite world by the noisy announcement. She looked at Mary bewildered.

"Did you hack into the airport!" Macy jumped up excited.

"Even better! I've found the license plate and tracked the car down to a neighbourhood in England." Mary said.

"Now, let's tell Mr. Wilcox." Macy said.

_Mohinder, S and Amir, P - India _

Mohinder was walking with Amir. Amir had finally let him see and enter the facility. He tried to keep calm and keep his composure. Somewhere in this place, Sanjog Iyer was being kept prisoner and he and Hiro could save him, if they could only find him.

"This is where we keep them." Amir said. "Your experiments will be conducted on the inhabitants of this building."

So this is why he was collecting people with abilities, he wanted to use them as guinea pigs, Mohinder thought to himself. Someone had to stop. "Okay, so when can I start." Mohinder said playing along.

"When you have something to..." Amir was disturbed when a service man ran to him.

The service man whispered something of great urgency to Amir. The service man had to stand on his toes in order to get close to Amir's ear. Amir nodded.

"Excuse me, Dr. Suresh. We seem to be having a problem." Amir said before going with the service man.

Mohinder wondered where they were going and what the emergency was but he also recognized this moment as a chance to find Sanjog and any other prisoners.

/

Amir ran through the hallway. He heard the unsettling news that a man and a young woman were caught on camera in the facility. No one knows how they got this far into the facility without being apprehended. Whatever the reason, Amir would make sure that there journey ends here.

/

Molly walked past the eighth armed man who seemingly could not see them. She pressed on and soon her ability was no longer needed. They could hear Matt junior's cries, as if he knew they were near.

Suddenly Matt was knocked into a wall. Molly heard him stumble and looked back at him. All she saw was Matt on his knees rubbing his cheek, other than that there was nothing or no one else, just a large silver vase and mirror. Molly did not believe her eyes when she saw a pair of hands come out of the mirror and grab the vase to throw it at the unprepared Matt Parkman.

Matt threw up his hands to brace for the incoming projectile. It bounced off his forearms and landed at his feet. Hands shot out from the vase and grabbed him by the pants and began pulling him to the vase. Molly ran to his side and pulled the vase away from him. Matt seized the hands and also began pulling them the opposite direction to which Molly was pulling the vase. This had the affect of exposing their attacker. It was like pulling back a sleeve to reveal the skin underneath but instead of a sleeve there was a vase and instead of revealing skin, there was a full human.

They struggled to get their assailant out but soon her face was out and the rest of the woman's body seemed to be hidden within the vase's reflective surface. Lwando struggled to stay in the reflection of the vase but Matt was too strong and the vase was also being taken away from her. Matt realised that the woman was exposed, she was no longer protected by the barrier of her powers.

"_Get out of there, now!"_ Matt compelled her with his powers.

Lwando immediately stopped struggling and made an effort to exit the vase. Once she was fully out, Molly threw the vase into the mirror, thereby shattering it. She took off her bright orange jacket and threw it on the shattered pieces of the mirror and the vase. She did not want anymore people coming out of them.

Once the Lwando was out, Matt grabbed her by her collars and slammed her against the wall. He wasted no time in invading her mind. He was so aggressive in finding information that the process was physically painful for her and she screamed and in a matter of seconds, he had found out everything he wanted to know and more. He found out about where his son was; her name, Amir Prakesh and the 23 dogs. He was so angry that this woman would kidnap his son and whatever reason she had was not enough to excuse her actions. He wanted to empty her mind out and leave her hollow, without her memories or even her personality. However, he did not. He refused to be to go down that path, especially because of his anger. He let her drop to the floor. She quickly lost consciousness because of the violent process.

"Come on." He said to Molly.

The roles had now changed; Matt was now leading them to his son and Molly was following close behind. Matt stopped and held out his hand for Molly to do the same.

"What?" Molly whispered. She sensed that they were close to Matt jnr. and the crying was now louder.

"There are two guards where he is being kept." Matt said.

Molly knew that left to the hallway was were baby Matt was being kept.

"I'll get rid of them." Matt began concentrating.

Molly saw Matt's pupils disappear. Blood began trickling from his nose. He had seen him use his powers before but she had never seen him do this.

"Matt! Matt, are you okay?" Molly said shaking him lightly. She was too afraid to do anything more than that.

Matt did not respond. He continued to look out at the hallway with a literal blank stare. Molly was unsure what to do but she knew they were close to their target. Should she try to get them out and come back another day or should she press on and rescue the baby and hope that Matt did what he said he would do? She bit her lip as she tried to decide what to do. She grabbed his hand and pulled him on to where Matt junior would be.

/

Mohinder was looking around the building, looking for clues to where the prisoners would be. During his exploration he had to hide to avoid being spotted by the occasional armed men. He was not completely sure what was going on but he knew it was big. He heard a group of men running his way and he ducked into a room as they passed by. As he heard them running past it occurred to him that maybe these men were going to where the prisoners were kept. He got out of the room and began secretly following the men to wherever they were going.

/

Molly peeked from a corner and saw two unconscious men on the floor in front of a door. He looked back at Matt who was still in the same state that he was in before. He was still able to walk when pushed or pulled, he was still breathing normally but he did not seem to be fully conscious.

Molly walked out of the corner she was peeking behind and ran for the door. However on the way a few more armed men appeared. They pointed their guns at her and she tuw to run back to where she was for safety. In Hindu they commanded her to stop but she did not. She kept running for safety and when she reached Matt she pulled him along.

"Matt! Please, you have to..." Molly began but was interrupted by a loud gunshot sound.

The noise brought Matt out of his trance. His pupils returned in time to see Molly drop to the floor. He got on his knees and raised her head off the floor. Blood spread from her abdomen and stained her t-shirt.

"Molly. Molly!" Matt desperately called out to the girl who was breathing shallow.

The group of armed men, who one of them had shot Molly, began approaching them. Suddenly a curbit flew across the hallway and struck the group of men, knocking them unconscious.

Mohinder rushed out and stepped over the unconscious bodies. "Matt? Molly!" He leaned down next to her. "What happened to her?"

"I think she was shot." Matt said surprised to see Mohinder.

"We need to get out of here and get her some medical attention." He said.

Matt nodded and lifted her in his arms. "We need to go this way." Matt said nodding to the direction where his son was.

"But the exit..."

"We're going this way." Matt said walking to the direction they were heading for previously. "_Ignore us!"_ He compelled the oncoming guards.

They all just passed them. With the use of his ability his pupils began to disappeared again. He stumbled as he began to enter his white pupil trance. When Mohinder saw Matt lose his balance, he used his extraordinary quick reflexes to catch him and Molly before they fell.

"Matt!" He called to the man.

Matt shut his eyes tight to fight off whatever was happening to him. The trance he was going into felt familiar but different. It was similar to the trance he would go to when he was about to paint the future. However, this trance did not seem to have a purpose; it was like his mind was stuck. He opened his eyes and had successfully fought off the trance.

"I'm okay." Matt said regaining his balance and holding Molly tightly. He now knew he could not use his power for the time being because there was something wrong with it.

Matt continued down the hallway and reached the door that he was going to before he had his first trance.

"Mohinder check what is behind that door." Matt said.

Mohinder tried to open the door and found it locked. He forced it open by pushing it with one hand and breaking its lock. Mohinder ran in and surveyed the room. He looked back at Matt. "There's nothing here."

Matt cursed inwardly. They must have moved his son when they knew he was coming. He looked at his adopted daughter in his arms. He knew he could not go after his son with his powers off commission and with Molly seriously injured. "Let's go." He said to Mohinder.

/

Amir Prakesh rocked the baby back and forth to comfort him. "It is okay young one. You will be fine."

A service man appeared and bowed slightly and quickly. "Sir, the security cameras have caught images of Mohinder Suresh with the intruders. It seems that his helping them by showing them the exit."

Amir kept quiet for a while. The news of Mohinder was disturbing. Were they forcing him to help them. "How close are they to the exit?"

"Very close Sir."

"Get men to pursue them. I don't want them to escape even if you have to kill them but do not harm Dr. Suresh." He said rocking the baby to sleep.

/

Mohinder, Matt and Molly, who was being carried by Matt, were nearing the exit. As they got out men chased after them. They ran behind a tree.

Matt laid Molly on the ground and began shooting at their pursuers. Mohinder was fighting off some of them. He immobilized a few and he dived besides Matt.

"We are going to lose. We are outnumbered." Matt said, analyzing the situation. There were more men in there and they would rush out to apprehend or kill them.

"Then I guess it's a good thing I have back-up." Mohinder said taking out his mobile phone. "Hello, we need your help now." He said into the phone.

As soon as Mohinder hung up, Hiro appeared in the middle of Amir's men. He began fighting them. He kicked them, cut their guns with his katana and slashed at their legs. Once he had dealt with them all he rushed for the door. He saw an army of men coming out for them. There was no way he could close the double doors in time and yet they went from open to closed instantly. Of course Hiro had stopped, or more accurately slowed, time and closed the door but anyone who could not manipulate the flow of time would have failed to see that.

Hiro ran to where Mohinder was. He smiled when he saw Matt. "Matt Parkman! Dr. Suresh."

"Hiro, we need to go. Molly needs medical attention." Mohinder said.

Hiro nodded and touched Molly's shoulder. In the next second both Hiro and Molly were gone.

Matt and Mohinder looked at each other in shocked silence.

"Did he leave us behind?" Matt asked Mohinder who looked equally as stunned.

"It would seem so."

Hiro then reappeared in-between them. "I forgot to tell you to hold on to me." He said grabbing their shoulders with each hand and teleporting them away.

_Ando - Eastside _

Ando spied on the house where Mainframe apparently was. He was saddened that he would have to do this alone. Molly's friends were no where to be found. He went to the location that she said they would be at only to find out that they had already moved out. It seems he would be going solo on this quest.

He walked to the house hoping that he would survive this experience. At the back of his mind was what Matt had said he painted.

/

Chuck Filch was staring intently at his computer screen. The artificial light from the screen bounced off his thick glasses helping to further illuminate the dark basement he was in.

Chuck had not left his house in days and the only time he left this room was when his mother forced him to take a shower. He reached for his sandwich stuffed with salt and vinegar crisps and ate it as crumbs fell on his already messy floor. Although Chuck had hardly moved and had gained weight, making his already obese figure even bigger, he had been working very hard.

For all of his life Chuck thought he was alone. In primary, highschool and even in his adult life he had been an outcast. He had found solace only in his ability. Chuck could understand and modify the binary code that composes all digital signals. This allows him to manipulate the flow of data and information passed through the internet. Whenever he told people of his ability no one believed him which only made him more isolated and fall into a deep depression that made him consider taking his own life but then she came. A girl he had never met had saved him and given him a purpose in life. When Claire Bennett jumped off the Ferris wheel she proved that he was not alone, that there were people like him out in the world and he made it his mission to gather them so they, and he, would never feel alone. For that reason he created his Mainframe alias.

He was so absorbed with his work that he did not notice his basement door open. He was snapped out of his intense concentration by a voice that he did not recognise to be his mother's. He swiveled around in his chair to face the intruder to his basement of solitude. It was a tall Asian man with short black hair.

"Oh! You must be here to deliver my new server. You guys do your delivers late though." He said looking at the time on his computer screen; It read 21:36.

"I'm not here to deliver anything. Are you Mainframe?" Ando asked.

Chuck panicked when the Asian man mentioned his alias. He had been discovered! He withdrew a plastic gun with four light fixtures at its end and pointed it at Ando. "Careful, this is a special gun. If I fire it... well best case scenario, you'll puke; worst case scenario, you'll have a seizure."

Ando raised one eyebrow skeptically at the weapon. He began approaching the man. "You have been sending out messages on the internet..."

"So you know!" Chuck said. "Well, I am Mainframe and you'll never get me alive!" Mainframe pulled the trigger of the weapon and the light fixtures began going off in different colours. Except for illuminating Ando in a few coloured weak lights, the weapon had no affect on him. "Awe man! Last time I buy a gun from the internet!" Mainframe said before he got up and pushed Ando away.

Ando stumbled back but was able to regain his balance. All he wanted to do was speak to him but Mainframe seemed to have taken him as a threat. "Listen..." Ando began trying to calm him down.

Mainframe threw the useless weapon at Ando's face. The weapon connected with his nose. Ando grasped his nose and ran to stop Mainframe from leaving. Ando grabbed the bigger man. He could not get his arms around Mainframe's body. Mainframe fought hard to get Ando off of him. Ando mistakenly sent out a crimson charge through Mainframe's body before he was able to shake him off.

Thanks to Ando, Mainframe's powers were instantly supercharged. He could not only manipulate more digital signals at once but he no longer needed a device, like a computer, to view their results. He felt like he was the internet but he knew he was not. The internet was so massive that it was difficult to separate himself from it but they were separate and he now knew that the internet was a sentient and intelligent being. Unsure of its nature he asked the internet for help and waited to see if it would oblige.

Suddenly a burst of electrical energy was sent to his basement. All the technology in the basement connected to the power supply exploded with overflowing electricity. Ando was standing next to Mainframe's computer when it exploded into a magnificent white light with sparks. The sudden event knocked Ando to the floor.

The basement was devoid of light now that even the light bulb had exploded. Mainframe ran over Ando on his way out. He got out of the basement then he locked door behind him. His mother appeared from the kitchen with a plate of nachos.

"I was about to bring you and your friend a snack." His mother said.

"That's not my friend, ma! That's my nemesis. Never let my enemies in again!" He said before he ran out the door.

Ando got up still a little dazed from the explosion. He shook the feeling away and ran after Mainframe. He did not bother trying to open the door. He just cupped his hands at his side, next to his hip and thrust them forward to open them into a tiger's claw hand sign. Orange energy shot out of his palms and struck the door open.

Mainframe was clearing his yard and was already running out of breath. It had been a long long time since he had to move this fast. Ando was close behind as he ran out of the house. To Mainframe's surprise a taxi pulled up right in front of his house.

"Chuck Filch?" The taxi driver asked through the window.

Chuck nodded and got in the back seat and commanded the driver to drive. As the car pulled away Chuck looked upwards and silently thanked the internet.

Ando got to the street but it was too late, the car was already on the move. Unless, he could stop it. He cupped his hands to his side and energy began accumulating between his palms. Stray sparks of orange and red would occasionally snake out between his fingers and palms. He prepared to unleash the devastating energy and then... let the energy dissipate harmlessly.

He reasoned that if he should shoot out the energy and it hit the car Mainframe was in, the results could be disastrous. And anyways he doubted that a guy like Mainframe could defeat Hiro, in anything except a video game.

_Claire, René and Valery - England_

Claire and Valery sat on the couch side by side. They were preparing themselves to tell René the events that transpired earlier that day. Claire knew she would not get in trouble but Valery would. This only made things harder for him because unlike her, he had to prove he could be trusted.

Claire tried to dissuade him from doing it but Valery insisted on telling René because as he said, "Too much damage has been done for him not to notice." Now they had Vida's corpse in a plastic bag in the bathroom.

René walked in and was surprised to see them waiting for him on the couch. The landline suddenly rang and Claire jumped up to pick it up, anything to stall this moment.

"Hello?" She answered. She listened in horror as Gretchen called for help because she was being threatened by the invisible killer who tried to kill her. "Gretchen where are you?" But the phone was hung up before Gretchen answered.

"What is wrong?" René asked when he saw the worried look on her face.

"My friend Gretchen is in danger." She said. "She needs my help." Claire said running to her room.

René and Valery exchanged glances before going after her. René stopped at the edge of the entrance to her room.

"You can't go." René said. "It's not safe for you."

"It's not safe for her!" She retaliated. "And that is my fault."

"I can't let you go." René said.

"How do you know that this is not a trap?" Valery added. "He is right, it's not safe for you."

Claire stopped packing her things. "Your right." She said flopping down on her bed looking defeated.

/

The night was slowly passing. René woke up. He did not know why. He checked the time and saw it was one in the morning. He got out of bed to check on Claire. This was something he had done for a long time even before he and Claire had officially met a long ago when she was still a cheerleader and he a company agent.

He quietly opened the door to her room and saw humps and curves under her bed sheets that showed she was sleeping soundly. He slowly closed the door as not to awaken her but then stopped when he noticed something out of the ordinary, Claire was not breathing! He ran to the bed and pulled covers back to find pillows and teddy bears. Claire was gone.

_Hiro, Matt and Mohinder - India_

Mohinder paced around the hallway of the hospital while Matt and Hiro sat down on a bench. Matt was fidgeting, his leg was shaking. Hiro was, unlike Matt, completely still. He was deep in thought as he stared blankly at the hospital walls.

"Mohinder, maybe you should sit down." Matt said.

"I can't. I'm not used to doing nothing. Not knowing if Molly is okay or..." Mohinder said.

"She'll be fine. I know she'll be." Matt said to convince himself more than anyone else. He thought of his last girlfriend Daphne who was also shot. "Molly will survive." He said again quietly.

A doctor finally came out and Matt and Hiro instantly stood up.

"How is she?" Mohinder asked.

"She has been stabilized." The doctor said.

They all breathed a sigh of relief.

"That is good. Molly is okay." Hiro said.

Matt sat down and his shoulders dropped. Mohinder stood before him.

"What was Molly doing there anyways?" Mohinder asked Matt.

"We were trying to save my son. He was kidnapped and I guess he was brought to that building."

"Amir Prakesh probably had a hand in that." Mohinder said.

At the mention of the name Hiro felt anger rise in him. This anger was directed at himself. He had come here to help and was taking too long in helping these people. And now Matt Parkman junior has been dragged into this.

"So this guy kidnaps babies, kidnaps my son... and you work for him?" Matt said accusingly at Mohinder.

"No, I'm Matches Malone." Mohinder said.

Matt raised an eyebrow as he was genuinely confused. "Huh?"

"You know, when Batman takes off his mask."

"I thought Batman was Bruce Wayne when he took off his mask." Matt said.

"That's exactly what I said! I'm spying on him. Prakesh has more than one prisoner. Hiro and I made this plan to save them."

Matt nodded because he now understood what they were doing. He wondered when Hiro had arrived in India to hatch this plan with Mohinder. Matt hit his head, he forgot to tell Hiro about Ando. When he looked to where Hiro had last been he found that there he was no longer there.

"Where's Hiro?" Matt said looking around.

Mohinder joined him but little did they know that Hiro was no where near, he was not even in the same building anymore.

_Claire Bennett - England_

Claire was able to successfully buy a plane ticket back home. She did not care what René said, she would help Gretchen no matter what.

/

René and Valery entered the airport. René thought that it would be wise to bring Valery along as they could both cover more ground. He deduced that Claire would come to this airport because she wanted to get back to America and this was the nearest airport to where they lived, the same airport she arrived in.

Once in they split up. They did not need to discuss the plan. Valery searched along until he saw her. She was wearing a binnie to cover up her blonde hair but he was able to recognise her nonetheless. He ran to where he had seen her but a man blocked him.

"I'm sorry Sir. Only ticket holders past this point." The security guard said.

Valery calmly stepped back. He looked around and saw a man who spoke with an American accent asking for the bathroom. Valery followed the man and once he was in the bathroom he ambushed the man. He slammed the man's head against one of the sinks, knocking him out then liberated him of his ticket.

/

Claire sat down and looked out to the city. She was finally going to go back home. Someone sat besides her in such a way that she was forced to look at him.

"Valery!" She exclaimed. "If you're here to take me back..."

"There's no point, the plane is taking off." Valery said.

On cue the pilot announced departure and the plane began moving.

"It looks like you get your wish Claire Bennett. I hope you did the wise thing because you've dragged me into your problems."

Claire smiled. She knew she would need all the help she could get.

_Amir Prakesh - India _

Amir was sitting in his office signing off on some documents when Hiro Nakamura appeared out of thin air into his office. He got on his feet when he spotted that the short Asian man was armed with his signature katana.

"Hiro Nakamura." Amir said.

"Amir Prakesh, if I help you with whatever you want, will you release all the prisoners you have?" Hiro said getting straight to the point.

Amir was not expecting this. He had no time to think so he made his decision rashly. "Yes."

Hiro nodded. "What do you want."

_Claire and Valery - America _

The plane finally landed. The sun had begun to rise over Claire's home country. She stepped out of the airport followed by Valery. As soon as they stepped onto the street a black SUV pulled up. Agents got out trying to make a grab for her but Valery was too fast for them as he pushed Claire out of the way and engaged the agents in hand to hand combat. Claire threw herself into the mix. Because there were only three agents out at the time they were able to immobilize them.

"It seems like this was a trap!" Valery said trying to take a gun from one of the men on the floor.

An agent still in the car began firing at him at point blank range. The bullets bounced off the top of Valery's head of hair. He was able to liberate the gun and returned fire.

Two more black SUV's pulled up as both Valery and Claire stepped back.

"Get behind me!" Valery said trading fire with the newcomers. He was using himself as a human shield to protect her.

Valery took a few down before he ran out of bullets. He was considering running away to distract them from Claire but she had other plans when she stepped in the line of fire to charge at them. Bullets shredded in and out of her but she did not slow down as the wounds disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. She threw her body into the group of agents, thereby flooring them. Valery fought off a few agents who were not caught in Claire's reckless attack. Claire was fighting savagely. She does not know what came over. She guessed she was just tired of running and being hunted. Now she would give whoever dared to cross her or anyone she loved hell.

An agent noticed that their guns had little affect on them. What made things worse was that there were two of them. They needed a different weapon or a different tactic. He reached into the big car and produced a weapon with a wide barrel that needed two hands to hold it. The agent aimed it at Valery.

Claire saw this and shouted out, "Valery, look out!"

Valery turned his body just in time to be fired upon. Whatever was shot out of the weapon hit him with enough force to knock him to the floor. What would have broken every bone in a normal human's chest did not even make a scratch on Valery. However, in the time where he was stunned and lying on his back he coughed on the smoke that bellowed from the cylindrical canister lying on his chest.

"Valery!" Claire screamed.

She tried to get to him to see if he was okay but was stopped when a few agents grabbed her. One agent stuck a needle in her neck and she began feeling dizzy. Her body was already clearing her of the invasive knock out drug they injected her with as they dragged her into the car.

Valery got up as a few strands of saliva escaped his mouth. He knew they had shot him with a canister of modified teargas. He knew it was modified because there was something different about it. He took three steps forward and realised why the teargas was different, it was making him lose consciousness. The last thing he saw was Claire being driven away before he fell on the pavement and his vision being flooded with black.

To be continued...


	6. Guns, Swords, Strings & a Killer Talent1

**Disclaimer Alert**

I do not own Heroes; I do not own the characters appearing in the Heroes media fueled by the NBC. I do however own the knowledge that says that Tim Kring owns Heroes... or at least some of it. Okay I don't own that knowledge either.

* * *

**Author's note**

It has been and still is a difficult month but I was able to write this nonetheless. It is a pretty long chapter so I have partitioned it (I've always wanted to use that word: 'it'.) into 2 parts. I'll try to post the next part sometime this month hopefully. Here we go...

* * *

**Heroes: Brave New World**

**Episode 6**

**Part 1**

The sun was beating down on the African jungle. A boy was sitting down on the earthy floor. Blood that had once freely flowed from his nose had now dried up on his upper lip. The boy was on the edge of being a teenager but you could still see some innocents in him as he silently sobbed. He did not want to draw any attention to himself but that was unnecessary as his quiet sobs were being drowned out by the conversation and laughter of a few men a small distance away from him. He guessed that the men were probably laughing at him.

The sun continued to beat down at the boy. He fought the urge to move and seek shelter from its merciless rays lest one of the men noticed him, lest they remembered he existed. A long slender shadow fell on his face giving some relief from the heat. He looked up gratefully at the sky expecting to see a cloud but instead saw a woman. The woman wore a tattered dress that would be considered rags in normal standards. She would have been considered beautiful if it were not for her left eye being swollen shut and her lip, which still had blood seeping from it, being cut. She had various other cuts on her cheeks and chin. Her hair was ruffled up and messy.

"Stop crying." The woman said in French.

The boy flinched and looked past the woman to see if the men were coming again and was relieved when they did not. They seemed too busy with their conversation to notice them. The boy looked back at the woman and for the first time noticed that she held a rather large knife that would occasionally glint in the sunlight.

"No son of mine will be as weak as you are now." The woman continued. "If he is then he does not deserve to live. Get up… Get up and kill these bastards!"

_Valery – America_

Valery woke up with a start. It was the first time he had ever dreamt of his mother. He looked around the place he was at. The streets were swarming with fire fighters and other medical practitioners attending to some people. In addition to all the clutter of personnel there was also some policemen and he could hear more sirens approaching the scene.

"It's okay. You're okay now." A medical practitioner cooed to him soothingly.

Valery tried to recall how he got to the place in the first place. Suddenly the memory of what had happen came rushing back to him. He remembered accompanying Claire and being ambushed. The ambushers were able to subdue him and take Claire away. He had to save her. Getting up from the stretcher they had placed him in, he began walking away, wondering how he would go about finding her.

The medical practitioner tried to stop him by touching his shoulder. "Wait sir. I'm not done checking if you are okay."

Valery roughly shrugged his shoulder to get her hand off it. "Do your job and check up on the weak people around you because I don't need your help." He said not even bothering to look back at her. He was glad that he was reminded of that time in the jungle when he was a boy; his mother made him strong that day and the memory reminded him that he was still strong. Teargas would not stop him, no one would stop him.

As Valery walked he saw a shiny thing on the ground. He picked it up and noticed that it was a name tag that did not belong to anyone on the scene. He deduced that it most likely belonged to the people who took Claire and was probably got lost during the scuffle. He noticed that there was an address on the name tag. He now had a way to find Claire.

_Hiro, N and Amir, P – India_

"So you will do anything I ask if I release the prisoners I have?" Amir confirmed.

Hiro nodded, "Yes."

Amir thought of all the possibilities. He literally had all of time in his hands. He could make himself richer or even more powerful or both. He could destroy all of his enemies and fix his past mistakes. He could see some of the greatest moments in all of history. He could do anything or at least anything that Hiro Nakamura was willing to do. With all the possibilities, Amir only wanted one thing most of all. This was the reason why he collected all the specials he could get his hands on in hopes that one of them would be able to help him with his greatest goal...

"I want you to save my daughter." Amir said.

Hiro was initially confused but then a smile spread across his face. Would an evil man make such a request? Maybe Amir Prakesh was not so bad after all. "Of course! Tell me where she is and I'll save her."

"You don't understand. She is… already dead. You need to go back in time and save her."

Hiro started humming in his throat to show that he was unsure if he could fulfil his request. He had made an oath never to go back to the past after the whole Tekezo Kensie debacle. He could tell that this would be trouble. "That will be a problem because…"

"If you don't do it then I will not release any of the prisoners!" Amir threatened.

Hiro sighed loudly. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. Should he risk the present to save the people Amir had or should he risk the lives of the people being held to maintain the timestream. Hiro finally nodded, "Okay!" He said before taking Amir by the shoulder and propelling them both into the past.

_Noah, B and Lauren, G – _

Noah was angrily pacing up and down while talking to Rene. He had just found out that Rene did not know where his daughter was.

"So you think she made it back here! I don't understand how you could have let something like that happen! If I knew you were this incompetent I would have not asked you to keep her safe!" Noah shouted at the handset.

Lauren sat on a park bench and listened to Noah's conversation. She had gotten the gist of the situation by just listening to his exchanges with the Haitian. She felt sorry for the Haitian, he was no slacker on any task and if Claire had escaped his sight she knew it was not his fault and she was sure even Noah knew that but right now he was blinded by his anger causing him to tear into the Haitian.

Rene listened quietly and waited for a chance to speak as Noah ranted and raved. He had only seen Noah lose control like this once in the old days while they were still partners. He did not take the way he was speaking personally. In his calm demeanour, he had enough wisdom to see that right now he was not a professional agent but a worried father who did not know where his daughter was.

Noah Bennett slowed down. He stopped pacing and kept quiet for a moment to allow his mind to calm down. He was not accustomed to losing control of his emotions, especially in the sight of Lauren and the presence of the Haitian. "Do you have anything else to tell me?"

Rene hesitated. He was not sure if he should tell Noah that his nephew Valery was also missing. When he could not find him he began to suspect that he was in cahoots with whoever had placed Claire in danger in the first place. After Valery came to live with them Claire's friend called the house landline to ask for her help but how did she even know where Claire was staying? Only three people knew that she was there, himself, Claire and Valery. It all made sense that he was a traitor and could be very well leading Claire to a trap.

"My nephew might also be with her. Be careful of him, he is dangerous," Rene said.

"You have a nephew?" Noah asked surprised.

"Yes."

Noah knew he would get no further information from him so he hung up and sat next to Lauren. He began listening to a recording of the so called 'distress call' from Gretchen that Rene had recorded and sent to him. After a while he took out his earphones and told Lauren everything that he had just learned. He told her that Rene had sent him the recording and asked her to listen to it and give her feedback.

Lauren listened to the recording a few times before she took out the earphones and commented on it. "This audio is well done but if you listen to it carefully you can hear that this girl…"

"Gretchen." Noah offered.

"Yes, her voice's pace and pitch is not uniform throughout which leads me to think it was spliced together."

"Which only confirms that Claire is walking into a trap, if she hasn't already."

"What should we do?" Lauren asked.

"We need information on who is really hunting her." Noah said getting up from the park bench and being followed by Lauren. "We need someone who knows what is happening, the major events of this country. That way we can narrow down the list of suspects." Lauren got into the driver's seat while Noah sat shotgun.

"So I guess we're going to pay Tracy Straus a visit." She said before driving off.

_Mainframe – Mainframe's Invitation Event_

Mainframe got off the taxi to the meeting site of his event. He knew he was hours early for it, as it would not start until late in the night but because he felt like his home was not a safe place to be because of the Asian man who was looking for him. He wondered how he was found out in the first place when he had been so careful to conceal his true identity under his Mainframe alias.

He sat down on a city bench and looked at the people passing by. His stomach began to loudly grumble when he saw a hotdog stand. He instinctively checked his empty pockets. It looked like he would just have to bear the hunger for the time being. He wished he still had his connection to the internet so he could talk to it and take his mind of the building hunger. There was so much that he wanted to ask it but he was just too afraid at the time. His stomach grumbled again and he knew it would be a long day.

_Matt Parkman and Mohinder Suresh –India_

Matt lay on a hospital bed while Mohinder gave him a check-up, Matt had told Mohinder that he was having difficulty with using his ability. Every time he used his telepathy he would go into a trance like state, which is the reason why he had failed to protect Molly. He felt guilty about that because she was there to help him and it was his duty to protect her and now she was in a hospital bed recovering from a gun wound.

Mohinder agreed to run some diagnostic tests on him. They had walked around the hospital looking for an empty room with the needed equipment for him to analyse Matt's problem. Mohinder had hooked up a few wires to Matt's head to monitor his brainwaves on a screen; he then proceeded to do other tests on him, like checking his breathing, heart rate, etc. After a few minutes Mohinder concluded his studies.

"Without the availability of a blood test my diagnosis is that you are perfectly fine." Mohinder said.

"But my powers…"

"I think that is just a result of exhaustion. Lately you've been using your ability not only very frequently but at greater intensities than you normally do. I think, again, you're just exhausted."

"So all I need is a break?" Matt asked.

"Yes or your brain will automatically go into the trance you experience or maybe it will get used to the pressure created by your powers. But I would not risk it, just don't use them so much for a while."

"That's one thing that I can't promise, doctor. I still have a son to save. That's something I'm going to do now."

Mohinder kept quiet for a while. "Although I don't like doing this without you having fully recovered I can't deny that time is of the essence. I'll accompany you because I still have to save the other prisoners that Prakesh has. I just wish that we had Hiro to provide back-up."

Matt nodded and wondered where the Asian man had disappeared to.

_Hiro Nakamura and Amir Prakesh – India, sometime in the past_

Hiro and Amir appeared in the middle of the lawn of the yard of a mansion. Hiro ducked behind a rock a little away from the mansion while Amir did the same but he hid behind a tree. Hiro saw the big man hiding behind the stem of the tree and thought about how strange he probably looked to the gardeners around.

"Mr. Prakesh!" One of the workers said when he saw his employer hiding behind the thin stem of the tree. Amir stepped out from behind the tree and began talking to the worker.

Hiro continued to sneak around the property, taking great care not to be seen. He eventually got to a place that was lined with stained windows that were coloured in a variety of beautiful colours to make images. Hiro crouched beneath the windows until he heard some commotion coming from the room beyond the window. He peeked through it and saw two little girls fighting in a hall-sized room. The room had fine carpets with pictures both drawn and photographed hanging on the walls. There were expensive vases and rare pot plants lined along the wall. Hiro even saw two crossed broad swords hanging on the wall.

The two girls in the room fighting were very young, not older than eight years. One of the girls wore a bright blue dress dotted with shiny multi-coloured stones, the other girl had on a modest grey dress. Hiro looked on in silence as the girls fought over a doll. The girl in the blue dress was able to overpower the other and ran away with the doll. A man with a moustache walked into the hall-like room, too late to have seen the commotion. The little girl in the grey dress cried as she ran to him. He hugged her as she cried in his arms.

"What is wrong, Faro?" The man asked the little girl.

"Daddy! Ashvren has taken Lolo." The girl sobbed in his arms.

"Your doll? I'll ask Mr. Prakesh to tell her to give it back to you, okay?" The man who turned out to be the crying girl's father said.

Hiro watched this situation with great interest. He secretly spied on the man as he went to Amir's office. The man told a younger looking Amir, with a shorter beard, what had happened.

Amir nodded, "I will pay you for the doll that my daughter took." He assured the man.

"That is very generous sir but that doll is irreplaceable. It is the last thing that my wife gave to Faro before she passed away. Can you not… maybe ask Ashvren to return it?" The man asked with a shaky voice.

"I can do no such thing! Tell your girl to get over it and buy her new one."

"But sir…"

"Are we going to have a problem here? Because I do not think I can continue to employ problematic employees." Amir said.

"No sir, no problem," the man bowed slightly as he retreated out of the Amir's office.

Hiro was startled when a big hand suddenly fell on his shoulder. The hand forcefully turned him around. An older Amir stood there looking a bit annoyed.

"You fool; you took us too far into the past! You did not even wait for me to tell you how far back we needed to go. We need to go back seven years from our present to the 4th of November."

"Okay." Hiro said before taking Amir's shoulder and moving them through time and space again.

_Claire Bennett – Washington, Secret Holding Facility_

Claire Bennett finally regained consciousness. She felt a little groggy at first but the feeling soon dissipated when she realised the situation she was in. She found herself strapped to a silver metallic chair. Her arms and legs were tightly bound to the cold surface of the chair by leather straps. Twisting her wrists, she tested the strength of her bonds and found them to be secure. Feeling frustrated, she did the only thing she could do in such a circumstance… she waited.

/

Wilcox glided through the hallways of his secret base. He could not believe that he had finally caught Claire Bennett and it was all thanks to his brilliant assistants who were following him close behind. He had decided to show them the compound where they were keeping Claire. He felt they deserved it; they supported him without asking for much and what his men had been struggling to do for a long time, they did in a manner of days!

He stepped into a conference room with security camera monitors. There he met with Gillian McKay. McKay greeted Wilcox and his all woman posse with a big charming smile.

"Mr Wilcox! I didn't expect you here so soon and with… company." Gillian said.

"These are my assistants, Rebecca, Macy, Mary and Mindy. Mr McKay, I would like to see her." Wilcox said.

"Of course." McKay said leading them to the monitors.

One monitor switched on and showed Claire Bennett bound to the silver chair. Mindy gasped at the sight. It seemed Wilcox was not impressed by what he saw either.

"Why is she bound like that?" He asked McKay.

"Well… she is one of them after all, Sir." McKay answered.

"So? She's not dangerous McKay."

"But we don't know what she is capable of. We don't know what any of them are capable of. Trust me sir, it is better this way." McKay argued.

Wilcox sighed. "I thought we were on the same page Mr McKay but sadly it seems that we are not. Claire Bennett is not my prisoner and if you don't understand that then I'm afraid we can no longer work together. You will be paid for services rendered but you are no longer an employee of mine."

McKay clenched his fists in anger. How dare Wilcox fire him for treating _one of them_ like the animals they were? He was about to lay an insult but thought better of it and just left the room and later the building. Wilcox was glad to see McKay go. He knew one of his employees was a mole for Agent Solver and since Gillian McKay was the only one who knew that he was secretly running this project it could only mean that it was him who was feeding Solver information about this project. And firing McKay for badly treating Claire also placed him in good standing with his assistants and made them trust him and this process he had put in motion even more.

"Everyone now answers to my assistants because they answer directly to me." Wilcox announced to everyone in the room. "Rebecca, get them to move Claire to a more human holding facility. I have things to take care of before I speak to her." He said before walking out of the room.

Rebecca and the other assistants went about doing what Wilcox had ordered.

_Samuel, S; Anita, R and Emma, K – Manhattan_

Samuel Sullivan was walking around the musical instrument shop. His companions, Emma Kooldridge and Anita Rodriguez, were at another aisle section. Anita thought that maybe Emma would like a guitar to use in tandem with her ability but Samuel knew better. Although Emma's ability would work with any musical instrument, in fact he suspected that it could work with anything that made noise, he had discovered that she had a natural affinity with the cello. As he walked around his eyes landed on what he was looking for.

/

Emma and Anita walked around the store looking at various guitars. Anita ran her finger across one of the hollow wooden ones and smiled. Emma noticed this.

Emma made a gesture with her hands to symbolize playing a guitar and pointed at Anita.

"No," Anita answered shaking her head. "I cannot play but my fiancé could though. He would serenate me with beautiful songs."

Emma looked sad and pointed at her own ring finger questionably.

"No, I… we did not get the chance to marry… he died." She said before Samuel called to them.

Anita led the way to Samuel's voice. As Emma moved across the shelves she asked herself why she was working with Samuel again. She was beginning to feel conflicting emotions about him. She knew that she could trust him but at the same time a feeling of fear and hate was beginning to rise in her, feelings that she did not know where they came from. All that Samuel had done was not only for her benefit but also for her people's benefit. She felt guilty for the unprovoked negative emotions. He did not deserve such negative thoughts and doubts.

They finally found Samuel. He was bent over something and when he got up he revealed a cello. Its beauty made Anita gasp. The cello was black, it seemed to absorb all light and reflect none and on the left side of its strings was the symbol that was present in the last cello that Samuel had given her; she thought she saw the symbol on Hiro's sword once upon a time too. It was etched in white on the black surface of the cello. She had often wondered what the symbol meant but obviously Samuel knew since he probably just inscribed it on the cello.

"In the old days they used to give the most unique and powerful weapons names," Samuel said. "I think that tradition is appropriate for this instrument because it will help us destroy all the people who try to stop us. I think its name should be Silent Strings. Do you like it?"

'Silent Strings', Emma thought. She understood how the name related to her and she did like it. Emma nodded. She felt that feeling again, the fear and some mistrust. What did Samuel want her to do with _Silent Strings_?

_Noah, B; Lauren, G and Tracy, S – Tracy's Penthouse_

"So, will you help us?" Noah asked Tracy after explaining her daughter's disappearance. Noah and Lauren had just found out that Gretchen was also missing. According to the university she had not attended any of her classes and had not been answering her calls.

"Noah, as much as I like Claire I don't see how I can help with your problem." Tracy said.

"Well we do need your resources and expertise." Lauren said.

"Okay. Tell me what I can do but it better not cost me much." Tracy said.

"We want to track Gretchen's account information: where she spent her money and why. If it is possible we want to track her mobile phone too." Noah said.

"I could call in a few favours and get you that." Tracy said.

/

They waited for about 30 minutes until all the information they had requested had been delivered. They all read the information hoping for a clue on Gretchen's whereabouts. They saw from the accounts that large amounts of money was charged to her credit cards for transportation to Washington and then a few restaurants around the area. There were several locations where her phone was last used.

Tracy looked at one of the locations and recognised the address. "That's Peter's apartment!" She exclaimed.

"What would Gretchen be doing at Peter's apartment?" Lauren asked.

"Let's find out." Tracy said.

_Hiro, N and Amir, P – India, in the past_

Hiro and Amir materialized in front of a restaurant. Amir walked forward and looked around the place. People would occasionally stare at the big man as they walked into the café. After looking at the place Amir looked back at Hiro and nodded.

"This is the correct place. Let's hope it is the correct time as well." Amir said.

"It is the right time," Hiro assured him.

"My daughter should be somewhere in there. We'll both go in and try to find her. When you do find her tell me and I will warn her so that she does not die." He said before going in to hear what Hiro wanted to say about this whole situation.

Hiro walked in after him and saw Amir already talking to a few people in an attempt to find his daughter. He thought that maybe he should tell him to be careful who he speaks to and what he says to them but he had a suspicion that the bigger man was not going to listen to him. Hiro wandered around the restaurant looking for a young adult that he had only seen once when she was a child. The restaurant was big. It had an upstairs and a downstairs. There was a quiet buzz of sound and music in the air. He had sworn that he heard someone gossip about seeing a huge man in the place who was apparently looking for some girl. Hiro sighed; it was very hard for a man like Amir to blend in any place even among his own countrymen.

There was a section of the restaurant that led to the downstairs portion of it. Hiro tried to go down via the stairs but a man blocked his way. "VIP only," the man sternly said.

Hiro gave him his friendliest smile. "I am a VIP. I… I… uhh… I am a visiting dignitary from Japan!"

"Just because you are from another country does not mean you are important." The man said.

Hiro saw the man's face suddenly change into half horror and half surprise. Hiro only guessed that he had just seen Amir Prakesh. Amir ignored the two men and headed straight for the stairs. The man bravely and dumbly stepped in front of him bringing him to a stop. Amir's face of concern quickly turned into one of anger.

"What is the meaning of this?" Amir asked. "Out of my way!"

"I… I'm sorry V… VIP only." The man said holding his shaking hands into fist at his side.

"Do you know who I am, fool. I am Amir Prakesh, I am a VIP wherever I go."

The man thought for a while and then remembered the name Prakesh. A famous family who he had seen on TV news and a few Indian and even American showbiz reports since he was young. He gulped and nodded then moved aside to let him through. Hiro was following close behind and as he passed the security guard he gave him an uncharacteristic cocky smile. That is until Amir stopped and turned back at him.

"Do not follow me. You will look upstairs where the rest of the people are just in case my daughter is not down here, which is unlikely." Amir said.

"No. I need to be there. I have to make sure that the space time continuum…"

"Remember our agreement, Hiro. If you ruin this chance for me a lot of people will die." Amir warned.

Hiro clenched his fists and reluctantly agreed. He went upstairs and looked for Amir's daughter there. There were a few shelves of books upstairs and people speaking in hush tones. As he walked through the upper floor he heard a whispered argument between three people. He walked slowly by the arguing people and a phrase made him stop and spy on the people talking.

"You cannot do this to me Ashvren." One of the boys said to a girl. "I did not cheat on that test, you did and I will not get blamed for it."

"And who are you going to tell, Mirak? You will not report us because if you do…" One of the boys began retaliating.

"I will tell the university board, our lecturers, anyone who will listen. I will not be framed for something I did not do!" Mirak, the first boy snapped even louder than before.

Ashvren was idly playing with her smart device ignoring the conversation until Mirak raised his voice. She placed her device on the table and began to rise. "Then go Mirak. Tell the university board and lecturers, tell anyone who will listen that it was I who cheated on the exams but I wonder who they will believe. Will they believe me, Ashvren Prakesh, a well known student, who is a member of the School Governing Body, whose father has donated a large amount of money to the university, whose family has had generation and generation of its members attend the university and go on to become great and powerful members of society? Or will they believe you, a poor rat from the slums whose mother is behind on her son's fees for the semester and who was found with stolen exam papers on him?"

Mirak knew that he had been beaten. He would have to face expulsion but something in him told him not to give up, there must be a way out of this situation. He began to think and then an idea popped into his head. Ashvren's smart device probably had evidence of her crime. If he only could get it. He would need a way to escape after he got it because he knew Ashvren's boyfriend would beat him up if he took it. He looked around the room and everyone was sitting down. He saw a short man with what seemed like a sword slung around his shoulder. His mind did not even wonder about the strange man because all it was doing was looking at possible escape routes.

Mirak suddenly grabbed the device and began running for the exit.

"Mirak, you bloody thief!" Ashvren's boyfriend said.

Asvren got up and grabbed her boyfriend by the collar. "You have to get him!"

"Why, you can get another one, right? And anyways this does not work in his favour." He said.

"No you fool! There are things in there that will prove… Just get him!" Ashvren commanded.

Ashvren and her boyfriend began running after the youth. Hiro, who was secretly listening to the conversation began following after them. He got downstairs in time to see Ashvren run out of the door. He looked to his side in time to see that Amir had just seen his daughter. They both began running for the exit. Hiro got out first followed by Amir who had knocked down a few people who were in his way. They got out in time to see Ashvren get into a Mercedes Benz car and chase after Mirak who was on a scooter.

"Ashvren, wait! Ashvren!" Amir screamed out to his daughter but it was already too late. He desperately looked around for some transportation. A car was beginning to pull up to the restaurant's parking lot. "Come, we still have a chance," he said to Hiro.

Hiro stood in front of the man as he tried to get to the parking car. Amir stopped in front of him looking confused and bewildered. "I cannot save your daughter and I cannot allow you to do it. Things must remain as they are." Hiro said.

Amir was visibly angry. His breaths came out shallow and his eyes were wide. "What do you mean? Have you forgotten about our deal?" He shouted.

"No, I have not but I can't keep our bargain. We are going back now." Hiro said reaching out to Amir's shoulder.

Amir swung at Hiro at the side of his head before Hiro could touch him thereby knocking Hiro unconscious. When Hiro had fallen he ran for the car. The occupants were just getting out until they were attacked by him. It only took a few seconds to immobilize the driver and his companion and take the car keys. He got in the car and began to drive off. He thought back to years ago when two men had accused him of assaulting them and stealing their car but nothing could be proved as he was away at that time on business.

As he speedily drove out of the restaurant, Hiro's unconscious body, that was lying motionless on pavement, began to come up. He considered running over Hiro's head and kill him as vengeance for going back on his word. The wheel of his car was fast approach him; Hiro could not move and did not even know he was in danger. At the last moment Amir swerved away thereby missing Hiro's head by inches and continued after his daughter. He reasoned that he would still need Hiro if he failed to save his daughter. He drove away leaving Hiro lying on the pavement.

_MainFrame – Mainframe Invitation Event Site_

The sun had already begun to set and no one had arrived for Mainframe's event. At first he was optimistic that maybe they were all late but after a few hours he began to realise that no one was coming. Had they somehow not received his message or maybe they simply did not care. Maybe he was truly alone in the world.

/

Little did Mainframe know that a few blocks away his event was being hijacked by Samuel, thanks to Emma and _Silent Strings_. Samuel's people began to gather and with everyone who came, he could feel his power growing. Emma sat on a city bench playing her siren song on her cello. The tune was infused with her emotions which allowed her to attract everyone who had come to the city to attend Mainframe's event. While she attracted them with her song Anita increased their feelings of trust so they would be more receptive of Samuel.

However, Samuel and Anita should have been looking out for Emma because she was slowly coming to her senses. Her trust began to shrivel up and she began to suspect that Samuel and Anita had done something to her and that they were doing something to these people. She remembered the carnival and what Samuel had made her do. That was the last thing she needed to break free from Anita's spell. She realised that Samuel was using her again; what he did to her using Doyle he was now doing to her using Anita.

She began looking around without stopping her playing lest Samuel or Anita noticed that she was herself again. She needed a way to leave this place. During her secret search for escape, she saw a teenage boy wearing a black jacket with short black hair that would move about as he joined the main gathering crowd. He looked at her for a while and their eyes met for a moment, then he continued into the crowd. Her brother would have been that his age if he was still alive. She realised that she could not just leave these people at the mercy of Samuel. She doubted that anyone knew of his plan so it was up to her to save them and stop him. She began to change the song she was playing, but this one had a different purpose, it was to drive everyone away.

/

West flew through the night skies looking down at the city lights. Micah was in his ear the whole time giving him advice and directions. Micah was sitting at a temporary base of operations. He did not want to work from home lest he places his family in danger. Everything of the mission was going well so far until he began to notice that West was slowly veering off course.

"West you're going off track." He said into the mouthpiece which relayed his voice to West.

"Oh." West said and began to fly a few degrees until he was on the right track again.

Micah began looking at the information channel. This Mainframe Event was seemingly happening under everyone's noses. No one had even found out about it. It gave Micah hope that maybe it was legit and that his and West's services would no longer be needed. He looked at West's geographical position on his laptop to check on his progress and noticed that West was once again veering off track.

"West you're going off track again." He informed him trying to stay calm.

"Again?" West said before correcting his course.

"What is wrong? I thought you had a great sense of direction and yet you keep going the wrong way? Are you losing your focus?" Micah asked.

"It's nothing. It won't happen again." West said. West honestly did not know why he kept going in the wrong direction. When he thought about it, it felt like something was pulling him somewhere else. He shook his head free of the silly thought. Not even gravity could pull him down to Earth so what could possibly be pulling him to anywhere.

West landed at an abandoned spot near the Mainframe Invitation Event. He was trying to be secret but an obese man saw him come from the sky and safely land on the ground without a splat or any noticeable injury. Mainframe realised that West could fly! He got up and began walking to him excitedly. He was not alone after all!

West looked around the empty site. "Micah, I think you over-exaggerated with this whole Mainframe thing. This place is empty." West said disappointedly.

"That's strange, was it cancelled?" Micah asked.

"Everyone probably saw it for what it was, a trap and smartly stayed away. Or everyone might be invisible, intangible and 'un-hearable'." West offered.

Micah sat back and rubbed his eyes. "I doubt it," he simply said.

West saw Mainframe walking towards him. "I've got someone approaching me… big guy."

"If he looks too tough then you should just get out of there." Micah said moving forward in his chair, closer to his laptop.

"Not big as in muscles but… the other big." West said.

Mainframe stopped in front of West. "Hello, are you here because of Mainframe's invitation?" He asked hopefully.

"Careful West, prepare yourself for the worst." Micah said through the earpiece.

"Yes I am. I'm assuming you are too." West said.

"Yes. I'm Mainframe!" He said excitedly.

Micah hacked into a satellite feed and ordered the satellite to zoom in on West's current position. He could see Mainframe and West standing facing each other. "So this is Mainframe. He doesn't look so bad."

"So what happened with your event?" West asked.

"I don't know. It seems no one attended except you."

"You hear that." West said holding his earpiece.

"Yes. It's weird. But I guess it's for the best." As Micah said that he looked around the city with the satellite that he had just hijacked. He saw that there was a large group of people who had gathered some distance away from the site. Was it a coincidence that there was a sizeable number of people gathering some distance away from the Mainframe event? He thought of something that had happened twice during the mission. West had gone off course and he did not explain why. He extrapolated West's incorrect path to see where it would lead and saw that it would have led to the gathering group of people that he had spied upon. "West I think Mainframe's event is still going on just not at your current location."

"What!" West said.

"What?" Mainframe asked. He had noticed that West was talking to someone through the device in his ear. Maybe they knew why there were no people here.

"Why would they be there?" West asked Micah after he had told him where the people were.

"I don't know and I don't like it." Micah said.

"Okay." West said. He looked at Mainframe. "It seems all the people who were supposed to attend your event are at another location."

"Why would they be at another location? The message I wrote clearly said…"

"I don't know but I'm going to check it out."

"Please take me with." Mainframe said.

"Uhm… It could be dangerous."

"Please. If they are in danger because of me then I have to be there to help them." Mainframe reasoned.

West wanted to give him an excuse that avoided stating the obvious but he could not bring himself to do it. "Fine." He said before turning his back to allow Mainframe to piggy back on. "Hold… on… tight." He said struggling with Mainframe's weight. West struggled to take off as he found it difficult to balance himself but he was able to get high above the city buildings before he made his way to his destination.

_Mohinder, S and Matt, P – India (Present day)_

Mohinder Suresh and Matt Parkman were standing outside of Amir's building. Somewhere in there was Matt's son Matt Parkman junior and Sanjog Iyer and other prisoners with abilities.

"We're going to have a problem with the guards." Mohinder noted the guards at the entrance. "Looks like I will have to take care of them."

"No need. I gave them an order to ignore me. Hopefully the order is still in effect." Matt said. "Just stay close to me."

They walked closer to the building and sure enough the guards allowed them in with no problem. They walked around the building looking for the prisoners.

/

Lwando was called into the security room. It was strange when she got there and Amir was not waiting for her. She answered directly and only to Amir Prakesh, no one else. There was a tall Indian man waiting for her in the room.

"What you want?" She asked the man who she knew would probably be in charge in Amir's absence.

"We have a situation and Mr Prakesh is currently not here." The man said nodding at the monitor screens.

Lwando checked out the screen. He saw the two men. One slightly overweight white man that she had come to know as being Matt and Amir's former employee, the Indian Mohinder Suresh. Matt Parkman had defeated her once before and had invaded the safety of her own mind. She was now afraid of him.

"I can't now." She said.

"You have to." The second in charge said. "We don't know why they are here. They could put your little lover boy in danger."

Lwando understood the insult too well but she could not deny the risks these two men presented. She would have to try and stop them on her own. She jumped into the nearest reflective surface wishing that Thulani was here to help her. But she was all alone heading for round two with Matt.

/

She had a plan. She could not defeat Matt but maybe she could pull him into the reflective world and keep him there. He would be no danger to anyone in her little world. As for Dr Suresh he was most likely a weakling.

Matt suddenly felt uncomfortable, like he should be watching his back. He realised why when he saw that he was just passing a mirror. He tried to step away from it but bumped into Mohinder. Suddenly a figure appeared from the mirror, his enemy, Lwando. Her arms shot out and grabbed him. Matt's upper body was pulled into the mirror before he knew it. He struggled to get free but it was a losing battle. That is until Mohinder joined the skirmish.

Although he was initially stunned to see his friend being pulled into a mirror, he eventually regained his wits and grabbed Matt's back and gave a big pull. The force was enough to pull both Matt and Lwando out of the mirror. Lwando tumbled but quickly got up. She ran for the safety of the mirror. Mohinder tried to grab her but she slipped through his fingers as she dove head first into the safety of the mirror. Once she was safe, she looked at her enemies.

She knew that she had underestimated the doctor. She looked at them trying to come up with a new plan of attack. Mohinder looked at the girl in the mirror. It was the first time he had ever seen her and yet he felt like he knew her somehow.

"Dark Beauty?" Mohinder called out to the girl in the mirror.

"What… What did you say?" Lwando asked surprised. She had always hated her dark skin but one person told her that her dark skin was what made her beautiful. Her lover, Thulani told her she was his Dark Beauty and only he had ever called her that in their most private and intimate moments. "Where you hear that name!" She said her voice sounding distorted through the mirror. She looked at Matt suspiciously.

Mohinder was confused himself. He had never called anyone that but it seemed that the name somehow related to the woman in the mirror. He realised where the name came from. "Thulani! You know Thulani don't you. I have a piece of his mind in me."

"That is impossible. Thulani is…"

"Separated into 23 dogs, I know. But a piece of him is in my mind."

"You never told me that." Matt said interjecting into the conversation.

"I did not think it was important." Mohinder said.

Matt looked at Lwando who was staring intently at Mohinder. "I could help you." Matt said. "I could help Thulani; I could fix him."

"You lying!" She said.

"I'm not! You've seen what I can do. You know what I can do." Matt said trying to convince her. "I will help you but you'll have to help us too. Lead us where Amir is keeping my son and the other prisoners."

"The prisoners in building, baby is not; he moved."

Matt was distraught when he found out that his son was now at a different location. "Where is he Lwando?"

"I tell you where prisoners but you help Thulani then tell you where baby is."

Matt and Mohinder exchanged glances. This was the best that they could get from her so they agreed to her conditions. She told them how to get to the prisoners at which Matt convinced Mohinder to go save them as they were his priority.

"Before you go Mohinder, I will need that piece of Thulani you have in your mind if I am going to heal him." Matt said.

"Please, take it." Mohinder said happy to be rid of the foreign consciousness in his mind.

Matt placed his hands on Mohinder's head and began to feel around his mind until he found what he was looking for. He transferred it and put it in his own mind. "Good luck." He said to Mohinder and he wished him the same.

Lwando then lead Matt to Thulani's body so that he could have somewhere to place his consciousness. Lwando stayed in the safety of her reflective world all the time while leading Matt. Once they got to the room where Thulani was seemingly sleeping peacefully, Matt took his body in his arms and he began racing to the pit where the 23 dogs were being kept, where he would try to save Thulani.


	7. Guns, Swords, Strings & a Killer Talent2

**Disclaimer Alert**

I do not own Heroes; I do not own the characters appearing in the Heroes media fueled by the NBC. I do however own the knowledge that says that Tim Kring owns Heroes... or at least some of it. Okay I don't own that knowledge either.

* * *

**Heroes: Brave New World**

**Episode 6**

**Part 2**

_West, R and Mainframe – New meeting site_

West fell out of the sky. Carrying the heavily overweight Mainframe had taken its toll on him. He tried to create enough thrust to stop their descent but only succeeded in slowing it down. They crash landed onto some dustbins and survived with only a few scrapes and bruises. Getting up, they looked at the assembled people who seemed to be scattering.

Meanwhile, Micah was relieved to see that West and Mainframe had made it. During the flight to the place, Micah had to correct West's course and direction of flight five times. It was like at first he was attracted to the place but now that he wanted to go there he was flying away from it. However, he finally got it right before the fatigue of carrying Mainframe got to him.

"Try to mingle and find out what is happening." Micah said.

West confirmed the order and began moving around the crowd trying to socialise which was something that was made harder by Mainframe and the glee that was obviously showing on his face because of meeting his kind. Mainframe looked at the people in the crowd and thought, these people were like him and he was able to bring them together. He had succeeded, well sort of succeeded. They had all met in the wrong place and it seemed that some of them were already leaving.

/

Anita ran to Samuel who was standing in the middle of the crowd enjoying the feeling of his growing power. She touched his shoulder to get his attention.

"Samuel. Some of… most of the people want to leave. I was able to get some to stay but there are too many of them to use my powers on."

Samuel looked at the Latino woman in confusion. "But that is impossible. Emma's power should keep them here." He said walking to where Emma was. Maybe there was a problem, maybe she was hurt or _Silent Strings_ was somehow broken. The thought made him pick up his pace from a quick walk to a light jog. He got to Emma who was still playing.

Her eyes were closed in concentration. Everything seemed to be okay but then he realised that she was playing a different song then before. He realised that she was driving the people away. Emma opened her eyes in time to see Samuel's angry face before her. She knew she had been caught out.

"Why Emma?" Samuel asked as he made the ground under her shake.

Emma stopped playing when her balance was being threatened. She fell over and tried to get up. She was now in trouble and needed to escape Samuel's anger. Emma was able to grab the cello and started playing it for her life.

To Anita's amazement, Samuel levitated a few pieces of rocks from the ground. It was the first time Anita had seen Samuel use his powers. He was going to use the rocks as high speed projectiles to kill Emma. However, before he could launch the rocks a group of people jumped on top of him. They began piling on him some punching and kicking him when they got the chance. Anita clawed at Samuel's attackers trying to peel them off him but there were too many. Suddenly a group of other men appeared and began pulling Samuel's attackers away from him.

Anita noticed that they all had on the same clothes and then she noted that they all looked the same: their body structure; their hair; even their faces!

Once they had freed Samuel from the tangle of bodies he smiled at his rescuers. He then looked at where Emma was and saw that she was gone. Looking back at one of the identical men he said, "Thank you Eli."

The clones smiled. "You're welcome," they all said in perfect unison.

Samuel began walking back to the crowd. Anita walked with him on one side while one of the clones or maybe the real Eli walked on the other.

"Have you gotten weaker Samuel? I know you could have handled those people without my help." The Eli walking with him said.

"They were being used and I could not hurt them for that. I'm glad that you came. We will need your help. Make more of… yourself and monitor the area around here. I don't want Emma to repeat what she had tried to do."

The Eli he was talking to nodded and before he could leave Anita spoke up.

"He will not hurt her right? She may have betrayed us but she did not want to work with us in the first place." Anita said.

"Don't worry Anita. I don't want any harm to come to her either." He said assuring her. When her back was turned he nodded at the Eli and the Eli nodded back. All the Eli clones knew that if they should find Emma they would kill her.

_Gretchen Berg – Wilcox's secret facility_

Gretchen was in a holding cell. She was promised that she would be released after she had told them everything but after complying with their requests they placed her here. It seemed she was a prisoner. It seemed that everyone was a villain these days or maybe she just did not know who to trust. Gretchen peeked through the bars on her door and saw a smartly dressed woman walk by.

"Excuse me." She said timidly.

The brunet woman stopped in front of her holding room and looked at Gretchen through the bars but making sure to keep her distance. "Yes?"

"My name is Gretchen Berg. Mr McKay placed me here after I answered all his questions and it seems that he has forgotten about me. Can you remind him to release me please?"

Macy was shocked at what she heard. It was a good thing that her boss fired McKay. "Mr McKay is no longer working here but don't worry I'll see to it that you are released, you poor girl. My name is Macy by the way." She said before going to Rebecca to report this atrocity.

/

Claire was in a different holding room. She was no longer bound and had the freedom to move about the room. It did not take too long for her to hear the sound of her door being opened. She stepped back unsure what to expect. A slightly overweight man came in with frilly hair and white shirt and black striped tie.

He calmly sat down on a bench located adjacent the door while Claire remained standing. "Hello, my name is Kenneth Wilcox."

Claire shrugged, "it's nice to finally put a face to the man whose been making my life hell."

"I'm sorry about that. It was unfortunate but…" Wilcox began a violent fit of bloody coughs. There was so much blood that he coughed out that it was now impossible to hide it. He placed his bloody handkerchief into his pocket. "I had no choice. I was desperate and dying."

Now Claire understood. This man had made her suffer because he was afraid of death and wanted her to save him. At the thought of it, Claire began to hate this man. This was what normal people were willing to do to exploit people like her and that fact made her blood boil but she did not show it.

"I need your help. I need your blood to heal me." Wilcox said.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I will die."

"So, you're telling me that you would not forcefully take what you want?"

"I would prefer not to." Wilcox answered before he began violently coughing again. This time his handkerchief was beyond soaked with blood. "I will let you go after you help me of course."

Claire watched the man lose an abnormally large amount of blood through his coughing. She did not want to raise a finger to help him, not after all the things he had put her and Noah through but she could not only think about herself. These people may really have Gretchen. She was about to agree when there was knock on the door and a woman's voice accompanying it. Wilcox excused himself before leaving the room.

Wilcox met Rebecca outside of the room. Rebecca noticed how bad he was getting. He needed Claire's help as soon as possible. "I have bad news sir." She said. "Solver is here."

All the blood from Wilcox's face suddenly drained making him look even worse.

/

Wilcox entered his office to find Agent Solver sitting in his chair. Solver immediately got up. "It's about time Wilcox." Solver said.

"What do you want? If you haven't noticed I'm busy." Wilcox said.

Solver circled the sickly looking man. "Yes, that's not the only thing you are. I heard that you were able to capture Claire Bennett, congratulations! I'm just here to collect her."

"Collect her?" Wilcox said outraged. He made a mental note to make sure that Gillian McKay would pay for his betrayal. "I did not spend my resources trying to bring her here so that you could just take her."

"Why did you think we allowed you to get this far with your little project?" Solver said.

"I… I promised her that I would let her go after she helped me."

"You should not make promises that you are in no position to keep." Solver said walking away.

"I was in the position to keep this one!" Wilcox said roughly grabbing Solver's arm.

Solver pulled his arm away. "Careful Wilcox, you don't want to make me mad while you're on your death bed. Go find some green grass to lie in and die because the way you look now, a breeze could knock you over." Solver said laughing cruelly.

Wilcox began losing all hope. After everything he had done he would still die. No, he refused to believe it. Even if he owed his success and even his existence to another man that did not mean that he did not deserve to live like any other person. He had gotten this far, he could go an extra mile to live. He looked around his office and saw a sharp ornament with the USA flag on it. Wilcox grabbed the ornament and ripped the flag off it exposing its sharp end. He suddenly rushed Solver and began stabbing him with his newly acquired weapon.

Solver was taken by surprise when Wilcox attacked him before he could leave his office to collect Claire Bennett. He would have never expected Wilcox to do such a thing. He always deemed him as a weak coward who deserved to die. Therefore he reacted too late and before he knew it he was being stabbed multiple times. He held his abdomen where he was bleeding out. Then darkness began to slowly fog his eyes until he felt the force of gravity pull him to the ground. The last thing he saw was Wilcox brandishing the bloody weapon in his hands then nothing.

_Peter, P; Gabriel, G and Ricky – Peter's Apartment_

Peter and Ricky had just heard the disturbing news about Wilcox. Now Peter knew what Kenneth's agenda was.

"We have to stop him." Peter said.

"Yeah, I'm ready to roll-out if you are Boss!" Ricky said.

Gabriel, who had been sitting down, stood up. "I think it would be best if Peter and I do this on our own. We don't need any sidekicks getting in the way."

Ricky clenched his fists trying to hold back his anger. "You've done your job. You can leave!"

"I would but Peter will need help on this thing. _Real_ help and not some wannabe."

Ricky was walking to Gabriel but Peter's voice stopped him in his tracks. "Just stop you two! This is not the time!" His phone began ringing and when he answered he heard Tracy. She explained everything she had learned from Noah and Lauren. Peter began telling her everything Gabriel had just told him and with that they both now had the full picture of Wilcox's scheme. Peter informed her that he and Ricky would try to stop him and save Claire. He had still not mentioned that he was working with Gabriel. Tracy said that Noah and Lauren were willing to work with him to also save Claire and that they would meet him at the base. Peter hung up and prepared for action.

They were getting ready to leave when Peter received yet another call from a number he did not recognise. He answered it but there was no answer on the other side. "Hello?" He repeated.

There was the 'beep' sound of a button being pressed as a reply.

"Emma!" Peter said. When they were still on speaking terms, before the whole 'Tracy-moving-apartment' thing, they would contact each other via text messaging. She would never call him unless it was an emergency and she had no choice, whether they were on speaking terms or not. "Emma, tell me where you are."

An automated message began playing. The message said where the public phone she was using was located.

"Okay. I'm coming, keep the line as long as possible. I'm coming Emma."

Gabriel looked at Peter. "I guess there's a change in plans?"

"I have to make sure she is okay."

"Well, I and your pet here won't be able to work well together." Gabriel said talking about Ricky.

"Pet! Pet!" Ricky shouted getting really angry.

Peter put his hand up to keep him quiet. "I can't help you save Claire and you and Ricky can't team up." Peter said thinking of what to do. "Ricky and I will go to Emma and you can go save Claire."

"Maybe we should reverse roles. I mean Emma likes me better than Claire does," Gabriel said teasing Peter a little.

"No!" Peter said. "The only person I know who can save Claire alone is you. If I still had my old powers we could reverse the roles but we can't."

Ricky wondered about Peter's old powers. He knew that Peter had an ability but he had never seen him use it nor did he know what it was.

"Fine." Gabriel said heading for the window. He sensed that Peter's reason for saving Emma was not a lie. He did believe that he was better suited to save Claire but simultaneously he sensed his emotions flare up whenever he spoke about Emma. He wondered if he would ever feel that way about another woman… again. "Tell Emma I said hi," he said before flying out of the window into the night.

Peter led the way out. Ricky hoped that wherever they were going he was going to see some action and not be a third wheel in a lover's tiff.

/

"Good luck." Tracy said to Noah and Lauren as they were leaving her apartment.

"Why don't you come with us? We could use the help." Noah said.

"I can't. I like Claire as much as anyone but I am not that person who uses her powers to fight some villain off anymore. I want to become better than that."

Noah nodded and left leaving Lauren behind. Lauren looked at Tracy for a moment. "You know Tracy you confuse me, you claim that you like Claire and yet you won't fight to save her. I wonder if you will fight for anything."

"I'm fighting for more power and freedom for myself."

"And how are you going to get it. You can't scheme your way into everything and what is the point of having power and freedom if there is no one else to share it with." Lauren said before she left to join Noah.

_Ando – Samuel's hijacked Mainframe Site_

Ando did not know why he was where he was. He was headed for the Mainframe site but somehow he took a detour and landed up a few blocks away from the original site. As soon as he arrived he felt the urge to leave. He almost did until he saw a very bad man from the past: Samuel Sullivan. He tried to ignored the feeling telling him to leave. He began coming up with excuses on why he should leave like finding Hiro; defeating Mainframe or even getting a cup of coffee but he stayed nonetheless.

He felt stupid for wanting to leave. If Hiro was anywhere it was most likely that he was here close to the bad guy and not with some Mainframe guy. When he saw Mainframe amongst the scattering crowd, he became more resolute to stay.

/

Emma saw Peter's car pulling up and he and a black person she did not know ran to her. They hugged, happy to see each other. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"She nodded and signed the word trouble with her hands.

"What's the matter?" Peter asked.

She began signing but Peter could not understand what she was trying to tell him. She asked him for his phone. When he gave it to her she began to type in it and showed Peter what she had typed.

"No." Peter said.

"What is it?" Ricky asked.

"Samuel is back and his collected lots of people with abilities. We need to stop him."

Emma pointed Peter at the direction where Samuel was. He told her it would be safer if she stayed where she was. She protested and kept pointing at her cello, _Silent Strings_, to symbolise that she could help with her powers but Peter was having none of it. He did not want to put her in danger. He and Ricky ran off to face off against Samuel.

/

"So what can you do?" A teenage boy wearing a black jacket with short black hair asked another. The teenager's name was Luke Campbell and he honestly thought that this was just a gathering of lonely weirdoes. He was more convinced of this when he saw a lady playing the Cello.

"I ran a marathon." The other boy answered.

"Well congratulations but that's not a power." Luke answered dismissing the boy.

"No. you don't understand. I sprinted through the whole marathon from start to finish and when I got to the finish line I turned around and ran back to the start, with no breaks in between, without even slowing down."

The small group that had gathered gasped as they were impressed by the feat but Luke was not. He had seen a man use telekinesis and shoot lightning. The ability to win a marathon was too weak for him. "What about you, fatso?" He asked Mainframe who, along with West, had joined the group.

"Oh! I can control messages and data sent over the internet." Mainframe said.

"Anyone can send an Email." Luke Campbell said disappointed. He looked around and saw a goth girl who had kept quiet but had a cocky look on her face. She had an opened can of Coke in her hand that she was slowly drinking. "What about you?"

She smiled even more at his question and gave him the can to hold. The half full can of coke stood on Luke's outstretched hand. The goth girl placed her arm forward and opened her hand. She slowly closed her hand and the can was crushed and its contents spilled all over Luke. West giggled at the sight and he was joined by the rest of the group. Luke began to redden. These fools should not be laughing at me, he angrily thought. He was tempted to use his power to fry a few of them until the goth girl spoke.

"I can increase or decrease the air pressure around an object or in an area." She said. "You seem to talk a lot, I wonder what you can do."

Luke let the can fall to the ground and from his hand came out waves of radiation that struck the can thereby melting it. The goth girl smiled at him. It was obvious that they were impressed with each other.

"What about you?" Luke asked West.

"Oh me!" West said. "Well, I uhm… I can control technology."

Micah slapped his forehead when he heard West saying that he had his ability. "West, why didn't you tell them you can fly?"

"I don't know. The invitation was for you after all." West said into his earpiece which made the group look strangely at him.

/

Anita walked up to Samuel. "Some of the people are beginning to leave again. They say they are heading to the original event site."

Samuel realised that he had to speak to his people now in order for them to stay here. He got onto a box that allowed him to stand taller than the gathered people. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Thank you for coming to this event. This is the first of many. The first of many where our people can gather and be strong!"

"Who are you?" Luke shouted out.

"Me. I am Mainframe but I would prefer you to call me Samuel Sullivan."

The name rang alarm bells in Micah's head who was listening through West's earpiece. He searched Samuel's name online and saw that he was the carnival criminal who almost killed everyone who attended the carnival. "West! This guy is dangerous, you need to… "

Micah could not finish his sentence before Mainframe shouted out. "That is a lie! I am the real Mainframe!" Mainframe walked to Samuel.

"Do not listen to him. His lying, Samuel is Mainframe!" Voices said from the crowd. These voices were both Eli's clones and other people who Anita had under her control. The people began throwing insults at Mainframe following group mentality and peer pressure. Mainframe was trying to convince them that he was the real Mainframe but he could not get his voice was not loud enough.

West was angry at how these people were treating Mainframe. When he saw Eli clones approaching the fat man, he shot off the ground and tackled them away. "Mainframe! You need to get out of here! I'll take out Samuel." West rose above the crowds and pointed at Samuel. "I know who you are Samuel Sullivan. You're a criminal. Everyone don't believe…"

His speech was disrupted when a boulder was thrown at his direction. West flew out of the way and dodged smaller rocks. After dodging the last rock he began diving for Samuel at full speed but his momentum was suddenly stopped in mid-air. It was like he was suspended in mid-air and he could not move. He looked around for a reason to what was happening to him and saw that the goth girl had outstretched her hand in his direction and was stopping him with the air pressure. Now that his ability to dodge was nullified, Samuel had an easier target when he threw a rock at West causing him to crash to the ground.

Mainframe was already running away but when he saw West fall he screamed and ran to him only to be apprehended by more Eli clones. Samuel walked over to West and ripped out the device in his ear and raised it above his head.

"You see this! They are spying on us because they are afraid of us, they don't trust us. I say we don't trust them!" Samuel said and there was roar of support. Suddenly, Samuel saw Peter and Ricky charging at him from the corner of his eye. He raised up the Earth to envelope their legs and stopped them. Peter's mere presence only served to make him stronger and he would need all the energy he could get if was going to tear the city apart.

"Peter. Good to see you." He said.

"Shouldn't you be in jail?" Peter asked trying to break free from the ground.

"Administrative error I believe." Samuel answered. "When I told them that I could move the ground and failed to demonstrate my ability they thought I was a nut and sent me to an asylum. But I'm back now and I'm going to make them pay."

Ricky was able to get free of the earth bounding him by sending out a green pulse of energy to disintegrate the rocks surrounding his legs. He was preparing to send off a wave of energy in Samuel's direction when someone stepped in front of him. "Eli!" He said. Tracy and Eli were the people who had taught him to control his powers. What was he doing here?

"Thank you Eli." Samuel said.

Eli was working for the bad guy! But how and why?

"Ricky, blast through him!" Peter commanded.

"I can't" Ricky said staring and unable to bring himself to attack his former mentor Eli.

_Matt Parkman and Lwando – India_

They finally reached the entrance to the dog pit. Lwando appeared as a reflection in the metallic door. Her hand came out of the reflection and turned the handle to open the door to the dogs. The animals began barking loudly.

"Wait!" Matt said. "Won't they attack us?"

Lwando was hesitant to answer. She remembered being dangled over them by Amir Prakesh and they did not seem to recognise her. Was Thulani even still in them? No, she had to believe that it was not too late to save him. "No." She said before bravely coming out of her reflection world and stepping in the dog pit.

Some of the dogs growled at her and Matt but they did not attack. Matt placed Thulani's body in the centre of the pit and began using his powers. It was hard to find Thulani's consciousness in the dogs but he was able to do it. It was a delicate process, like trying to stitch together wet toilet paper without tearing it apart. He was doing well but then he felt the trance coming on.

/

Mohinder arrived at the holding cells. He ran through them and saw the appauling conditions the people were kept in. he stopped in front of a cell that had Sanjog in it. Sanjog was sitting calmly in a lotus position and he opened his eyes and looked happily at Mohinder.

"Sanjog! I'm going to get you out of here!" He said. Mohinder saw someone approaching from the corner of his eye. He saw that it was Priya one of the people he had examined for Amir. "Priya?"

Priya opened her mouth and began singing. "Do Re Mi Fa So Le Do!" She continually sang this over and over.

Initially, Mohinder did not fully understand what she was doing but then realised that she was using her ability. As soon as he heard the sounds of her voice, he began to lose his sense of balance. He fell on his knees as the world around him began to spin. All the meanwhile Priya took out a pocket knife and pulled the blade free, without stopping her singing and began to approach him.

_Amir Prakesh – India (The past)_

Amir was driving down the road. Ahead of him was his daughter's car that he could not catch up to with his stolen one. Ashvren's boyfriend drove and would bump up against Mirak's scooter. Mirak would occasionally wobble after the collision but he was able to get his scooter under control.

"What are you doing? Stop him!" Ashvren screamed.

"I can't. Not without causing an accident."

"Do it or else…" She warned him.

Ashvren's boyfriend stepped on the gas and was able to bump harder into the scooter. The scooter wobbled and Mirak fell over as his scooter skidded away. He got up from his fall and took his helmet off. His body was sore from the fall and he noticed that he was now on a bridge.

Amir was approaching the place where his daughter would die; she died on a bridge. He knew she was in grave danger now. He did not notice the pothole in the road and when he drove over it the car swerved into a tree. He survived the crash but cursed at his luck. He began running for the bridge that he knew was up ahead. He eventually got close enough to see the teens arguing.

"You could have killed me!" Mirak screamed.

Ashvren's boyfriend punched him and ordered to return his girlfriend's phone. Mirak began backing away, refusing to comply. Ashvren stepped behind him to block his escape while her boyfriend advanced.

Amir screamed knowing what would happen. "No…!" He was cut short when Hiro appeared in front of him and pushed him back. Amir saw Mirak trying to muscle his way past Ashvren. She lost her balance and knocked her head on a giant blunt nail with enough force to open her skull. Her body shaking epileptically was the last thing he saw before he was teleported out of there.

/

Amir and Hiro appeared in the hallway that Hiro had once spied Amir's daughter in. Amir fell to the floor crying.

"You… you stopped me from saving her." He said.

Hiro stepped back from the man who, even on his knees was almost as tall as him. "I'm sorry but things are better the way they are. I will not be responsible for bringing another evil Prakesh into the world."

"She would have been good!" Amir said trying not to sob.

Hiro took a deep breath before he answered. "A good person is kind, humble, respectful and tolerant. Things that you daughter lacked at the time of her death. Who would have taught her these things?"

"I would have!" Amir said getting up angrily.

"How? When you lack those qualities yourself!" Hiro retorted. "Where is Mirak? Is he even still alive?"

Amir got up and walked to the curved broad swords that hung on the wall in a cross. He withdrew both of them from their resting place. "I promise you Hiro Nakamura. I will destroy everything you love and hold dear!"

Hiro withdrew the Kensie katana from its own sheath around his shoulders. He was tied of the big man bullying everyone. It was time a little guy put him in his place.

They both began charging at each other and a loud 'CLANG' echoed through the hallway as their blades clashed.

_Claire and Rebecca – Wilcox's Secret Facility_

Claire had a plastic drip connected to her arm, draining her blood away. She watched as the blood bag slowly became bloated with the red liquid. She hoped that it would all be used up and not even a drop be left to go to labs to be tested and analysed but she knew that was wishful thinking. Rebecca was worried at the speed which the blood was being taken from Claire.

"I really wish you would have allowed me to give you something to eat." Rebecca said. "I heard…"

"Whatever you know does not apply to me." Claire said. "Even if you drained too much I would still be able to recover."

Rebecca nodded. When Claire had filled two bags, Rebecca thought it was enough and ordered the doctor not to collect any more. She got up and looked at Claire. "Thank you."

"Do you think he would have let me go if I refused to help him?" Claire asked about Wilcox.

Rebecca took a second to think and said, "Yes."

Claire looked down. "You hesitated when you answered."

Rebecca left the holding room.

/

Mary entered Wilcox's office and found that he was not there. She saw a trail of blood on the floor that ran under her feet and out to the door. She was worried when she saw the blood trail. Was Wilcox dead? Had his condition finally got him? Her questions were answered when Wilcox stepped into the office. He seemed just as surprise to see her as she was to see him. His shirt and hands had blood stains. He carried a black garbage bag along with a roll of paper towel.

"Sir? What happened here? Where did all this blood come from?" Mary asked.

Wilcox looked around her and saw that Solver's body was missing! What had happened to it? He had not moved it. He looked at Mary suspiciously but he saw by her confused look that she did not know anything. "This is my blood," he lied.

"But… if this is your blood then how are you still standing?" She asked. When Wilcox did not answer she knew that something was seriously wrong. Then she remembered that Solver had come. "Where is Mr Solver?" She asked looking at all the things that Wilcox was carrying; things that would be used to cover up a murder. Wordlessly, Mary ran passed him and out of his office.

/

Mary ran to Rebecca. "Rebecca. What the hell is going on?" She shouted hysterically.

"What do you mean?" Rebecca asked.

"I think Wilcox killed Solver." Mary answered.

"No, that's impossible. Kenneth would never…"

"I know what I saw! This has gone too far." Mary said before the facility's alarm went off. "I'm going to get Mindy and get out of here. I suggest you find Macy and do the same." She said before running off.

Rebecca did not know what to do. It felt like everything around her was falling apart.

/

Mindy was walking through the hallways before the alarm rang. She tried to find her way to safety but in her panic she got lost. She got to a section of the building where there was gunfire and saw people flying into walls. A man in a long black coat rounded the corner and she was faced with him. The man was tall thin and pale. He thrust his arm out and pinned Mindy to the wall. She knew that this may happen, that people like Claire would eventually come for her and maybe revenge.

Gabriel immediately noticed that he had made a mistake. When he heard the alarm he thought that they had discovered him, he began attacking soldiers. He had thrown a few well-armoured and armed soldiers against walls in hopes of knocking them out but not hurting them too badly. He was on a roll until he saw Mindy and by instinct he pinned her to a wall but she did not have a bullet proof vest on top of her white shirt and he doubted that she had a gun hidden in that black knee-high pencil skirt she was wearing. Her face also lacked a hardness to it; the girl looked like a delicate flower. The fear she felt was beginning to agitate him. He let her fall to the ground on her knees before continuing on. He stopped in his track when he heard a voice that was almost like a whisper of wind.

"Please, don't harm him. Don't hurt Mr Wilcox." Mindy said without getting up or without even daring to look at him. "He's a good man."

Gabriel looked back at her and felt off of her great compassion to the man in question. He guessed that Wilcox must be as manipulative as he was when he used to call himself Sylar. "Funny, last time I checked good men did not kidnap women."

Her eyes began to water. How would Mr Wilcox survive this? She thought to herself. "He has his reasons."

Gabriel walked on saying, "don't we all."

/

Gretchen was being released by a soldier and then they heard an alarm go off along with a few gunshots. The soldier realising her looked at her and shoved her back into her holding room before closing the door.

"Wait! I'm supposed to be released!" She said through the door.

"It might not be safe. Stay here!" The soldier said before running in the direction of the gunfire.

Gretchen waited for a little while and then the gunfire stopped. She tested the door and found that the soldier forgot to lock it. She pushed it open and ran out into the hallways. She did not know where she was going but she did know that she wanted to get out of here.

/

Noah and Lauren had already successfully infiltrated the building when the alarms went off. They both doubted that they had caused it but it put them under pressure nonetheless.

"This is the last thing we needed." Noah said.

"Tell me about it. We just need to move fast." Lauren said opening a holding room and seeing nothing in there. She moved on as Noah checked the room in front. They worked like a coordinated machine, hoping to find the holding room that had Claire.

Noah noticed a black man coming out of the corner. He pushed Lauren into a holding room before the man could fire at them. Noah returned fire and got two shots at the man. The man did not even attempt to dodge or find cover, he kept coming at them. Lauren also got a few shots at their enemy but the man did not slow down. He kept returning fire at them.

"This guy isn't going down and he has no bullet proof vest on. How is he still standing?" He said, ducking gunfire from their target.

"We need to get him out of the way, fast." Lauren said. "One of us needs to do it to give the other a chance..."

"No! We stay together." Noah said.

She sighed as she knew what had to be done. She pushed him to the floor and shut the door as she ran into the hallway. She ducked and weaved while running for safety. The man ran after Lauren running past the room that Noah was in. When Noah got out it was already too late, he could hear gunfire some distance away. He resisted the urge to chase after them and help Lauren, instead he continued to look for Claire.

/

Claire sat in her holding room. Outside she could hear the alarm ringing and gunfire. She also heard panicking men giving and confirming orders. She wondered what was going on. She was startled by two gunshots that sounded very close. When she heard her door beginning to open, she got up and prepared herself to fight. The door opened and she saw a man with a pair of horn rimmed glasses that reflected the light, hiding his eyes but not his smiling face. Claire ran to him not to fight but to hug him.

"Dad!" She happily said.

Noah returned the hug briefly, happy to have her daughter back. "Come, we need to get out of here." He said leading the way out.

_Hiro Nakamura and Amir Prakesh – India_

Hiro was struggling to win the sword fight. Amir was an exceptional swordsman and Hiro was not accustomed to having a sword fight against an opponent with two swords and Amir's long reach more than made up for the short length of his twin curved swords. He was being constantly pressed back as he parried and blocked Amir's slashes.

Amir was able to keep the pressure on. His size allowed him to outpace Hiro with each step, so he could not escape to get a breather. He knew it would not be long before Hiro succumbed to his furious attacks. Not many could withstand his intense sword fighting technique for long. Not even some of the world's finest swords masters; masters which he was taught by since the age of fifteen.

Hiro could sense that he was approaching a wall and he would soon be cornered and have no space to retreat. If he could, he would teleport to a more favourable position but to do that he needed some time to concentrate and he sensed that if he did not place all his focus on fighting Amir, he would not have a head to focus with.

Amir began placing more force into his blows which made it harder for Hiro to defend. Hiro realised that his small size was always a disadvantage but against someone as big as Amir it could be used as an advantage. The next swing that Amir took at his head he did not block; instead he dropped to one knee and swung his katana at Amir's legs. He expected to hear the sound of the Kensie sword cut through flesh but was disappointed when he heard the 'clang' created when Amir blocked his attack. Of course, he thought, just as everyone Hiro has ever fought was taller than him so it should be obvious that everyone Amir has ever fought was also shorter than himself. So he would have naturally learned to defend against low attacks.

Amir swung at Hiro's head with the other sword. Hiro pushed himself back causing the sword to miss most of his neck but it caught him on the bridge of his nose. Amir moved forward and brought both his swords down in a V motion that would meet at his opponent's head. Hiro was able to get his sword up, parallel to the ground, just in time to block Amir's deadly swords. Hiro saw that from this position he could make an opening or since he had a little time, he could teleport to a new position. He decided to press his advantage instead of waiting for another.

Hiro made an arch motion with his katana forcing Amir's swords to the side then he began his own furious bout of attacks. The one advantage that the Japanese katana had over the Indian curved broad swords was that the katana could be used for both slashing and penetrating thrust attacks, an advantage he tried to exploit. Although he was able to stun Amir enough to make him adopt a more defensive technique, Amir was able to regain his composure. He was able to trap Hiro's sword between his own two swords and by using a twisting movement, was able to disarm him while simultaneously kicking Hiro in the chest. Hiro slid on the floor after having been kicked in the chest while his sword flew away. His head came to hit the wall he was trying to avoid as he tried to regain the air that was kicked out of his lungs. The Kensie sword landed some distance behind Amir.

Hiro got up to a sitting position as he looked at Amir who was approaching him. Blood was flowing over his nose caused by the cut that he had sustained earlier from Amir.

"You have been defeated." Amir said with both his swords at his side while he approached Hiro. "What will you do now? You can teleport to your weapon, and then behind me and thrust it through my heart but you do not seem like the type who would do such things. You could go back into the past and kill me there and erase all the bad… and good I have done. You could go back in time and make sure that I did not take any prisoners but I promise you: that will have dire consequences. So what will you do, Hero?" He completed now upon him.

Hiro suddenly disappeared. Amir turned back and noticed that his katana was gone too. He raised his guard and swivelled around just in case Hiro was the kind who would appear behind his back and kill him. After a while, Hiro did not appear and Amir realised that he had abandoned the fight. He dropped his guard disappointedly. He wondered where Hiro could have gone, had he gone to change the past? Or had he simply ran away?

"Typical."

_Matt and Lwando – India, secret base_

Matt was still pulling the fragmented consciousness of Thulani out of the dogs and into his body. The trance was ever looming, trying to take over his mind but he continued to fight it off. He knew that at this rate it would not be long now before it won. Fighting it was made harder as he was using his powers at the same time. He was able to return 60% of Thulani's consciousness when he felt his consciousness begin to help in the process of righting itself.

Because he had his eyes closed in concentration he did not see some of the dogs walk up to the body of Thulani and touch it to return the consciousness stored within them. Matt felt that Thulani's consciousness was now completely restored. He immediately turned off his ability and began to fully focus on fighting off the trance.

Thulani's eyes began to open and the first thing he saw was Lwando's smiling face. "You saved me, my Dark Beauty." He said.

It took all of her inner strength not to cry at seeing the person she loved most on Earth. She hugged him tightly and she felt like she would never let go. But she was forced to when a man entered the pit with an AK47. Thulani touched the nearest dog and shifted a piece of himself in it, thereby taking control of it. He made the dog charge at the man. The man got off a few shots before the dog tackled him down and ripped his throat open. The other dogs began to crowd the downed man and they finished off the job. The dog that Thulani had possessed began limping back to him. It whaled and squealed as it was badly hurt. Thulani touched it and took back his consciousness before it limped away and died.

"Let's get out of here." He said in French.

"No, I promised him that I would help him find his son. I owe him." Lwando answered in French.

"He saved me and I just saved him. We're even. Let's go." He said caressing her cheek.

Lwando looked at Matt who was on his hands and knees trying to fight off the trance. She felt guilty leaving him like that but she had to get Thulani and herself to safety. She grabbed him and pulled both her and Thulani into a reflective part of the wall.

Matt could feel the trance about to win until he realised what he had to lose if he should fall to it now. He thought of his family: his wife who was waiting for him to bring back his son; his adopted daughter who had risked her very life to save him. With that he was able to fight the trance and push it out of his mind. He knew then that he would never be a victim of it again. When he looked around all he saw were dogs feasting on a dead body but no Lwando and no Thulani. He had failed.

_Peter, Ando, Samuel, etc – Mainframe's hijacked site_

Peter was bound and Ricky still refused to strike Eli down. Luckily for him he was not the only one there who was against Samuel. Ando snuck up behind Samuel and prepared to shoot out his energy. Samuel spotted the crimson light and threw up a boulder in front of its path. The lightning-type energy hit the boulder and broke it apart.

Peter was surprised to see Ando; he half expected Hiro to appear close behind him. He needed to help in this fight because Ricky was not helping things. Samuel could kill them with this amount of people with abilities around. He realised that since Samuel could use his powers, he too could do the same since it was the last power he had copied. He focused and made the earth around his feet disintegrate. Samuel thrust his arms out in an attempt to hit Ando with the moving ground but his wave of earth stopped inches from its target. Samuel was confused, what could have possibly stopped him. He looked out and saw Peter with his arms out. Samuel lifted a boulder up and threw it towards Peter. Ricky and Eli jumped out of the way but Peter stayed in place and used his terakinesis to stop the oncoming boulder in mid-air. Peter broke the boulder into smaller rocks with his ability.

Luke approached Peter from behind and fired a ray of radiation at his back. Peter fell over moaning. Now that Peter had been taken out Samuel could focus fully on Ando who had begun to charge him. Samuel made a new wave of earth that hit Ando. Ando fell on the cracked on the pavement with blood coming out of his mouth and eyes.

"Ando! No!" Peter said feeling his anger rise and involuntarily making the ground shake.

"That's it Peter. Help me, help me destroy everything!" Samuel said also shaking the Earth trying to tear it apart.

A crack began to appear as multiple cars lost control and street lights fell over. The crowd that had gathered around Samuel failed to stay on their feet as he and Peter shook the ground beneath them. Peter finally came to his senses; he was destroying the world he was trying to protect. Through force of will he was not only able to minus his part in the earthquake but he was able to stop Samuel's. The Earth stood still again. A drop of sweat fell from Peter's forehead because although it seemed that he and Samuel were simply standing still and staring at each other, across a crowd of people who were slowly getting up after the tremors, they were actually locked in an intense invisible battle. While Samuel was trying to tear the city apart Peter was trying to keep it together. He saw from the corner of his eye that some of Samuel's loyalists were approaching. He saw Luke readying to fire another stream of radiation at him but he could not defend himself lest he loses the battle with Samuel.

"Come on Ricky, where are you?" He said under his breath.

Ricky was surrounded by clones of his mentor Eli. He was hesitant to use his ability. "Why are you doing this Eli? Why are you working with the bad guy?"

"Maybe it's because I am a bad guy." Eli said.

"No you're not. Ms Straus is not a bad guy; you're not a bad guy!"

"You're wrong kid." Another clone said.

"Then I will blast you if you don't get out of my way!"

"Would you do that?" One clone said. "Would you hurt me?" Another completed.

"I know the real you, the _Prime_ is not here."

"Oh but the _Prime_ would be here." A clone that Ricky could not see said. "Especially if he knew that you would be unwilling to hurt him."

Ando began to open his eyes. He had taken a bad hit. His head was throbbing; his ribs and other bones were broken and he found it hard to breath. It felt like he was dying. He looked around and saw that Peter was about to be attacked. It was impossible to beat Samuel because he had all his supporters, which made him and Peter outnumbered. In order to defeat Samuel they had to take away his main source of power, his people. Maybe Samuel could do that for them, Ando thought.

Ando forced his battered body forward to Samuel. People did not pay him any attention; he was just another man getting up after the mysterious earthquake. When he got close enough he grabbed Samuel's leg and sent a pulse of energy into him, effectively supercharging him.

Samuel kicked him away but then he could feel something different. His power had increased exponentially. He did not need all these people to rip the city. He could do that with a few but with this many he could make the whole world shake. He was now all powerful. He began making the city shake and all the surrounding areas. Peter tried to stop him but Samuel's power was now on a whole new level then his. He felt like a pebble trying to stop a tsunami and even he fell in the midst of the new earthquake.

People around began panicking as cracks appeared in the ground. Anita stumbled to Samuel and grabbed his jacket. "Samuel, please stop doing this! You're putting us in danger!"

"Get away from me!" Samuel screamed pushing her away. "I no longer need you! I don't need anyone! I am a god amongst mortals and you are all beneath me!" He said intensifying his earthquake.

Ando began to think that maybe it was not such a wise idea to boost Samuel. Ando may have actually helped to destroy the world or at least had a hand in it. The shaking suddenly stopped as his power boost ended. Samuel was surprised when all that power just disappeared.

"No! Where did my power go?" Samuel screamed. He saw Ando getting up on his feet. "You… you gave me the power. Give it to me again now!" He screamed, foaming from the mouth.

Ando prepared to strike Samuel with his power. When Peter got up and saw Ando ready to use his powers on Samuel again and shouted, "Ando don't'!" But it was too late; Ando thrust his hands out in a tiger symbol and a powerful burst of orange electricity came out and struck Samuel, knocking him out cold. Peter was relieved to see that Ando's power worked.

The clones that had surrounded Ricky were all gone. He guessed that they must have disintegrated during the Earthquake. He went to join Peter and Ando. Some of the people who were made to be loyal to Samuel by Anita began surrounding them. Peter then had an idea.

"Ando, you made Samuel stronger, can you do that for me?" Peter asked.

Ando grabbed Peter's arms and sent a pulse of supercharging energy into him. Peter's power did not grow, he could not move as much earth as Samuel could when he was supercharged. Then he realised that maybe it did not supercharge his terakinesis but his original ability. Peter grabbed Ricky and copied his ability.

"Ready for a team up, Ricky?" Peter said.

Ricky nodded and back to back they released a combined wave of green energy that knocking the oncoming attackers away. Peter simultaneously shook the ground to make all the people he and Ricky did not get to fall over.

Anita recovered and walked to the closest person she could find who turned out to be Luke. She grabbed him and looked into his eyes. Samuel had proven to her that he was just using her and he wanted him to pay. It did not take long for her to find Luke's hate for Samuel. The boy was strange in regards to how he felt hate for everyone he had ever met. For him to do what she needed him to do she had to increase his hate for Samuel to massive amounts.

The people had begun to recover from Peter's and Ricky's attack. They looked like they would attack again but then a song played and they all began to disperse. Peter looked at where the song was coming from and saw Emma playing _Silent Strings_.

Everyone was leaving except for one boy, Luke. His hate had made him deaf to the effects of Emma's song. When Samuel regained consciousness he saw Luke standing over him. He smiled at Luke but that was quickly wiped away when Luke directed a large amount of radiation at his face. Samuel screamed as his face burned and boiled as he eventually died.

Ando suddenly collapsed, succumbing to exhaustion and his injuries. Emma came to Peter's side who was trying to help him. He was fading fast and there was little either medical practitioner could do. All they could do was hope that he lasted until an ambulance came.

Ricky wandered about, making sure that everyone was leaving without causing trouble. He stopped when he saw Eli lying on the floor. He was bleeding from his forehead and did not look well. Ricky dragged him and rested his back on a tree.

"Are you okay?" Ricky asked. "I'll get my boss. I'm sure he can help…"

Eli raised his hand to stop him then smiled at Ricky. "You look like you're happy, Ricky. Working for your new… boss."

"He's a good guy." Ricky said. "…like you."

"You still think that's true, huh?"

"I know it is."

Eli laughed a little before coughing. "I hope your right kid." He said as he began to disappear. "Maybe next time we meet, we'll be on the same si…" The clone disintegrated before it could complete its statement.

_Mohinder – India_

Mohinder could not stand up. Priya was still singing her song which made his mind spin. He did not know up from down; left from right. When Sanjog saw that Priya approaching him with a knife he took out his cup and threw it at her. The cup hit the bars of his cell and smashed into pieces. Priya was not even fazed as she continued forward like a predator readying to pounce on its prey, the prey being Mohinder.

A piece of glass landed besides Mohinder. Or was it further away? In his state he could not tell but he reached for it nonetheless and was surprised when he got it. He raised it and stabbed himself in the arm. The pain was enough to force him to get up. In his sudden rise he mistakenly knocked Priya down and because of his immense strength he unintentionally knocked her unconscious.

Now that Priya was no longer singing all his coordination had returned. He grabbed the bars to Snajog's bars and ripped them off their place. He then freed Sanjog from the chain that bound him to the bed by snapping it like it was a piece of string.

"We need to free the rest." Sanjog said. And that is what they did. Mohinder exited the facility with more than a two dozen people and for some of them it was a long time since they had seen the sunlight. They had done it; they were free from Amir Prakesh.

_Lauren Gilmore – Wilcox's Secret Facility_

Lauren kept running while firing at her unstoppable pursuer. She was certain that she had put at least eight bullets in him and yet he still kept coming after her. She knew she was dealing with a 'special'. She made a turn into a dead end and was now cornered. She fired two shots before she ran out of bullets. The man smiled and raised his own gun pointing it at her. It did not seem that he would think twice about killing her.

"Where is she?" He asked her.

"Where's who?"

He squeezed the trigger but heard the disappointing sound that told her that the gun was empty. Lauren saw this as her opportunity and charged at the man. Valery was not scared when he saw the woman charge at him. Lauren threw a punch putting all her weight and momentum into it. There was a loud smack sound as her fist collided with his face. Valery fell on his back and tried to get up. Lauren was quickly on him and began beating at his face. He was able to grab both her hands and forcefully throw her off him. While she was getting up Valery kicked her in the face causing her to fall back into a wall.

Above her head Lauren saw a fire extinguisher. She reached up for it before Valery was upon her and when he was close enough she swung it at him. Valery jumped back and narrowly missed the thick metal of the extinguisher. He realised he had made a fatal error in underestimating this woman, an error he would not commit again. When she swung and missed he took the opportunity to rush forward. Lauren side stepped him and blinded him by spraying foam into his face. His arms were swinging wildly and blindly. When Lauren tried to hit him with the extinguisher again, more by luck than skill, he was able to grab it and wrench it away from her.

Now she was without a weapon and Valery was quickly regaining his sight. She kicked his legs out from under him. He fell on his face and Lauren was on him very quickly. She grabbed his arm and held it in a shoulder lock. Valery tried to struggle free but she twisted her hold causing pain to shoot to his shoulder.

"Careful fella," she warned. "I've dealt with people like you before. Invulnerable is it? Skin can't be penetrated, bones can't be easily broken but they can be popped out of their joints. Like your arm that I have right now, one big twist and it will pop out of its joint and trust me when I say it will hurt."

"You think I fear pain! Even with one arm you would still not be able to stop me from finding her." He said beginning to rise regardless of the pain.

Lauren was scared that this guy was willing to lose his arm to get at her. "Finding who?" She said trying to keep him under control.

Valery stopped rising for a little while he answered the question. "Don't lie to me. You know I'm talking about Claire!"

"Wait, are you Rene's nephew."

"Yes, you know my uncle?"

"He said to be careful of you. That you may have something to do with Claire's kidnapping." Lauren said.

"Of course, I'm new to the family so he still does not fully trust me. Claire and I were ambushed and they were able to take her but I tracked them here and I came to save her." He said.

"Then we are on the same side." Lauren said releasing her hold on him and getting off his back. Valery got up. Lauren thrust her hand out in a gesture of peace, "I'm Lauren."

Valery shook her hand. "Valery."

/

Gretchen was running around in a panic, trying to find her way out of the building while dodging soldiers. She ran into a hallway and saw someone she did not want to see. She saw Gabriel and was startled. Gabriel was as surprised to see her.

"You!" She said quickly stepping back.

"Gretchen?" He said.

Gretchen stepped out into a hallway and into the path of three soldiers who had a lot adrenaline running through their veins. When they saw her suddenly step into their line of fire they opened fire and treated Gabriel a front seat view to her being shot down. She fell onto the ground and he ran to her side.

"No!" He screamed using his telekinesis to throw the soldiers into a wall. They fell on the ground sustaining broken bones. He could feel nothing from her, no emotion, no fear; he knew that she was dead. He felt confused as he did not know what to do. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice calling the dead girl's name.

"Gretchen!" Claire said seeing Gabriel kneeling over her friend's dead body. Noah had his gun drawn and pointed it at Gabriel's head.

Gabriel wanted to explain but could not find the words. How could he tell these people, the people with more reasons than anyone to hate him, that this was not his fault.

"Get away from her, Sylar!" Claire screamed before Noah opened fire.

Gabriel was able to divert Noah's bullets away from his head while he made his escape. He knew that they would never understand so all he could do for now was run. Claire ran to her friends body crying. Her tears fell on Gretchen's blood mixing the two liquids. "Maybe I can give her my blood and save her." She said sobbing.

Noah felt for Gretchen's pulse and shook his head. "It's too late. You can't save her and we need to go." Noah hated to be so cruel but they had to leave if they were going to escape.

Claire knew she needed to go and it would not benefit anyone if she stayed with her dead friend but she could not bring herself to do it. "I can't just leave her here." She said knowing that Noah would pull her by the arm to get her away from this place but he surprised her and lifted Gretchen's body in his arms and handed Claire his gun.

"Then we won't leave her here." He said before they ran for the exit

/

While making their way out their path was blocked by a group of men who fired at them. Claire was able to take a few of them out by shooting at their legs. Noah noticed from behind that the man that Lauren had led away was running fast to him. He still held Gretchen's body and his weapon was still with Claire who was clearing a path for them. He could not fight so he prepared for the worst. He was surprised when the man passed by him and helped Claire take out a few more of the enemies but while Claire did not kill them, he did. She was happy to see him and while they ran out, through tears she explained to her father who Valery was.

Once at the door they saw two more guards who were swiftly taken out by Lauren who had positioned herself at a place where she could pick off anyone with her sniper gun. Lauren brought the getaway car around and they all jumped in and drove away to safety.

/

Wilcox received the lifesaving blood in his office. As each drop of blood was being pumped into him he could already feel the healing effect of it. He got better and better with each pint that entered his veins. Rebecca was acting coldly towards him, no doubt that it was because Mary had told her about him killing Solver. Mindy and Mary could also not be found; he guessed that they had left his service or at least that's what he hoped. He was worried about them because their whereabouts became unknown during the commotion of gunfire and alarm ringing. He was relieved that both Macy and Rebecca were safe and that if Mary and Mindy would talk to him he would have a lot to explain to all four women.

The last of the blood was gone and he was free to move around his office again. He rolled down his sleeve as the blood had even healed the puncture that the needle, that was forced into his forearm, had made. His office had a few guards posted in it to protect him, his assistants and the doctor performing the blood transfusion.

"Did it work sir?" Macy asked.

"It seems so." He said looking at them smiling. Only Macy returned his smile while Rebecca still looked neutral.

Then something strange began to happen. A sheet of water began entering under his locked office door. It first started out as a little amount but then a lot began to pass through. The guards raised their weapons to the closed door not fully understanding what was going on. The water covered the carpet and got Rebecca's and Macy's shoes wet. Suddenly a wave of water burst the double doors open and knocked out a few of the guards along with Macy. Rebecca was also knocked off her feet by the sudden wave. From the water a humanoid figure began to rise and solidify into flesh and bone.

Rebecca was horrified at what she saw and was even more horrified when she saw that the humanoid figure began to look like Tracy Straus. The remaining guards who were left standing or regained their consciousness began firing at her. The bullets harmlessly ripped through her liquid being. Tracy raised her watery arm and sharp ice shards shot out of it and struck the shooters, effectively killing them.

When all the guards were down she began to walk to Wilcox while beginning to turn back into clothes and flesh. By the time she reached him she looked completely normal. Her fine suite did not give away the fact that she had just turned into a human from a body of water. Wilcox just back stepped trying to get away from her but there was nowhere he could go. Tracy's arm turned into water that was shaped into a bigger arm and with that he grabbed Wilcox and smashed him into a wall.

"You! You betrayed us; you used us; you used one of my people." Tracy said.

"Please." Wilcox said struggling to escape but Tracy's watery arm covered his face effectively making him drown.

"Please don't do this." Rebecca said on her knees on the wet floor. "Don't kill him, Tracy."

Tracy looked at the woman who she had not liked from the day she met her. She realised that she may need to kill her in order to make sure that there were no witnesses. He heard Wilcox gurgle and withdrew her watery arm from his face giving him access to air.

"Why should I? This is the kind of people that I am fighting against." Tracy said.

"But his not… please." Rebecca pleaded.

Then there was the sudden sound of a gunshot and Tracy saw a red dot, from which blood was seeping, in the middle of Wilcox's forehead. Blood began to fall on Tracy's water arm. Tracy withdrew her arm and turned it back to normal and Wilcox's now lifeless body fell to the floor. She looked around to see who had shot Wilcox. She saw a man lying on the floor, pressing his hand on his bleeding abdomen. Rebecca, who was also looking at his boss's killer, recognised the man as Solver.

Tracy looked at the stunned Rebecca and smiled. "I guess you were begging the wrong person." She said before she left the office. She walked past Solver as he was slowly dying from the stab wounds in his abdomen.

_Hiro Nakamura – India_

Hiro appeared inside a building. He walked to a structure he would only expect to see in a sci fi movie. The structure was a man-sized tube that was sitting on top of a machine and in the tube was a baby, Matt Parkman junior to be exact. He saw that the machine had a digital screen that had a count down sequence. When he touched the glass of the tube the timer would speed its count down. Just by touching the glass he had lost almost all of his time. He had only just a little over one minute left. He looked into the tube and noticed that the baby was on top of a weight register and he guessed that if the baby was removed something bad would happen, like a bomb going off.

"Amir is truly evil." He bitterly said rubbing the bridge of his nose, where there was a scar. It almost felt like a lifetime ago since he fought Amir but he knew that for everyone else it wasn't.

He began to think of a way to save the baby. The timer did not worry him as he simply slowed time down. He snapped his fingers when he realised what he had to do. He had to teleport himself and the baby away from this place but the trick was that he must do it without being in contact with the child. He closed his eyes in extreme focus. Then he disappeared.

/

Hiro appeared in the middle of a busy section in India with baby Matt in his arms. Once he saw the baby he thrust his hand into the air and screamed, "Yatta!" The baby began crying and Hiro tried to comfort him. "I'm sorry little Matt, I meant to say 'Yatta'." He whispered quietly in Japanese.

_Janice Parkman – Parkman Family home, L.A_

Janice Parkman sat in the kitchen all alone in the quiet house. Her tea was getting cold as she stared into space with worry painted on her face. As such, she didn't hear an Asian man, carrying a sword on his back and her baby in his arms, teleport to her son's nursery. She did not hear him place her baby gently in his crib and whispering goodbye to him before he teleported away. However, she did hear when her baby began crying when he was hungry. When she saw him lying there she happily picked him up with tears in her eyes.

_2 days later_

_Matt, Molly and Mohinder – India_

Matt was preparing himself to leave. He had just got off the phone with his wife. Molly was standing next to Mohinder as they were seeing him off.

"Thank you for your help guys." He said.

"I don't see why you're thanking us. Hiro is the one who saved your son. I should thank you for helping us save Sanjog." Mohinder said.

"Well, let's just say we both helped each other with our own missions." Matt said shaking Mohinder's hand. Matt looked at Molly who had said nothing. "Thank you too Molly. Without you… well I would still be nowhere."

"I'm glad I could help. Have a safe journey Matt." She said returning his smile.

Matt turned to leave but then stopped and turned back to them. "Come back with me, Molly." He said.

"What? No, I think we have established that we cannot live together." Molly said.

"We had a rocky start." Matt said to her and when she adopted a 'understatement-of-the-week' look on her face he rephrased, "okay, we had an awful start but Janice and I are willing to try again… if you give us another chance that is."

Molly thought about it and looked at Mohinder. He smiled at her. "It is totally your choice Molly. Whatever you decide, I…" He looked at Matt, "we will still love you and be proud of you."

Matt nodded showing that he agreed.

"Okay, I'll give it another try." She said. She had not unpacked her things so she was already ready to leave. She and Matt said their goodbyes and left for America.

_Claire Bennett – Noah's apartment_

Claire looked up at the mirror at her newly dyed hair. She had dyed it black so that she would be less recognisable. She was back home, no one was hunting her, she was not running away from anyone but she was not at peace. She stepped out of the bathroom to show her father how she looked like a brunette.

Noah smiled. "Who are you?" He said.

Claire smiled at the joke. She would have to get used to being a brunette. At least it would allow her to move more freely without being in danger of being noticed. "Dad, I have something to tell you."

Noah was worried about the tone she took.

"I can't let Sylar get away with everything he's done; to me, to you, to our family… to Gretchen." Claire said. "I'm going to find him and kill him."

"Claire, this is a dangerous path that you want to go down." Noah warned. "You will not come out the same person that you did when you went in. I would know."

"Well, regardless. I'm going to kill him." She said walking away.

At that moment Noah knew that there was nothing he could do or say to stop her. He was afraid that her daughter would eventually be like him.

_Peter, Tracy and Ricky – Chicago_

Peter, Tracy and Ricky walked into the building. It was empty now but soon it would hopefully be filled with people and equipment.

"The government came through, huh?" Tracy said. "These headquarters will serve our purpose well."

Ricky whistled. "Can I also get a government grant? There's a few mansions on the Eastside that will serve my purposes."

Peter smiled and looked around. "Soon this will be the headquarters of the Company and from here we'll bridge the gap between _them _and _us."_ He said looking into the massive building. He felt he was close to achieving his goal. He had gained the trust of the government now all he had to do was save the world from war.

_Hiro and Ando – Japan, Nakamura Technologies_

Ando and Hiro were in the executive room of Nakamura Technologies. Ando's face was still bruised from his fight in America but considering how badly he was hurt he considered himself lucky to be alive let alone walking. He was listening to Hiro tell his him about his adventure in India. He was still a little annoyed that Hiro was in India while he was looking for him in America. However it seemed that they both had scars from their respective adventures, Ando had more though.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you could not save baby Matt because if Amir did not get him, many bad things would have happened?" He said in Japanese

"Yes. It was also like that with some of the other prisoners he had. Amir had placed protocols in place to ensure that if he had ever failed to attain a certain prisoner that many people would suffer for it. He placed himself in a time knot. If I unravelled one part of the knot, the whole thing would fall apart." Hiro said equally in Japanese.

"Oh like a locked timestream." Ando said.

"No, I'm calling it a time knot."

"But locked timestream…"

"When you're a master of space and time you can name the events and scenarios." Hiro said. "Now as I was saying, I could not change the past so I had to simply change the present. Mohinder was able to save the other prisoners and I had to save baby Matt. I had to stop time for a year, well technically not because time was stopped but you get what I'm saying. I stopped time and looked for him until I finally found him and saved him."

"Wow, when you say you'll do whatever it takes to save the day, you are actually serious aren't you." Ando commented.

"Yes, so are you right." He asked rhetorically.

"Uhm… Ouch! My body hurts."

Hiro rushed to his friend's side. "What hurts, how can I help."

"Get me my pills painkillers." Ando said.

Hiro ran out to get Ando's medication. Ando breathed a sigh of relief now that he had successfully avoided Hiro's question. He was not totally lying, his body did hurt. Kimiko came into the conference room to see his fiancé.

"Where is Hiro running off to?" She asked Ando also in Japanese.

"To get me my medication." Ando said standing up.

"Thank you for bringing him back home. I'm sorry that you got hurt."

"Anything for you. Hopefully I'll be back to full health before our wedding." Ando said.

"I'm sure you will." Hiro said coming into the room and placing the bottle of medication on the table.

"Yes Ando, listen to your future brother in law." Kimiko said hugging Ando. She looked at Hiro who was happy to see the closest people in his life happy. "Oh come in here you!"

Hiro smiled and shouted, "group hug!" before he joined them. There was no doubt that the bond between these three was strong.

**The end…**

* * *

**Author's Note**

Phew! Made it. It was fun and sometimes hard to write. Hopefully I can make a sequel one of these days. If you did not know this was my first little ditty, so if you are able and willing to, please give me some feedback. Yeah, tell me I suck and why I suck so that in the future I may suck less. Or you can tell me how great I am (just a thought). Thanks for reading!


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